LEADING Palestinian human rights activist Mr Bassem Eid was freed late last night after being held for 24 hours by Palestinian security forces, a spokesman for his civil liberties organisation B'tselem said here.
Mr Eid (38), was arrested illegally at his home in east Jerusalem on Tuesday and detained in kamallah in the West Bank, B'tselem said.
"The detention of Eid is a blatant example of a pattern that increasing, in which the Palestinian Authority chooses to silence its critics rather than addressing them," B'tselem's general secretary Mr Izhar Beer said a statement.
The organisation said Mr Eid had not been mistreated during his detention, nor had he been questioned or informed of any charges against him.
Mr Yasser Arafat's office said earlier that the Palestinian Authority chief had ordered Mr Eid to be freed. "Mr Eid broke Palestinian law and was arrested by the security services, but Mr Arafat decided he should show mercy and order his release," the office said.
Mr Yarden Vatikay, a spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, commenting on Mr Eid's arrest had said: "He's an Israeli citizen and certainly the prime minister does not look well on this."
Meanwhile, the Palestinian election campaign got into full swing yesterday.
The start of the campaign was marred, however, when B'tselem and media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, said Mr Eid, one of their main field workers, had been arrested by agents of Force 17, an elite Palestinian unit charged with Mr Arafat's personal security.
Following the formal start of the campaign by Mr Arafat on Tuesday, the nearly 700 candidates seeking seats in the new Palestinian Autonomy Council headed into their constituencies yesterday in search of votes.
Less than 24 hours after the campaign was declared open by the Central Election Commission, streets and towns across the West Bank and Gaza Strip were plastered with portraits and banners of the candidates.
More than a million voters are signed up for the January 20th polls to choose 88 representatives to the self rule council and a president, with Mr Arafat virtually assured of victory over his sole rival, Ms Samiha Khalil, a 72 year old grandmother and opponent of the peace accords with Israel.
Earlier this week, European and US observers monitoring the electoral campaign for a Palestinian autonomy council and president, expressed concern about signs that the Palestinian Authority was seeking to muzzle opponents in the run up to the polls.
Of the 700 candidates registered to run in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip some 500 are independents, many of them considered supporters of Mr Arafat's dominant Fatah movement. Only 22 are women.
Fatah is presenting 75 official candidates, compared to 21 candidates for the next biggest formal grouping, the Palestinian People's Party, which is opposed to Mr Arafat's peace policies.
A handful of other parties are either closely aligned to Fatah or impromptu groups formed by independent candidates. Absent from the polls is the hardline Hamas movement, which vehemently opposes Mr Arafat's peace agreements with Israel.
In Gaza City, headquarters of Mr Arafat's Palestinian Authority, schoolchildren roamed the streets yesterday distributing the candidates' campaign materials.
"Together for liberation, together for change," proclaimed one campaign banner hung out by Mr Marwane Kanafani, Mr Arafat's former spokesman.
Some candidates went door to door in search of votes while one millionaire businessman, Mr Said al Mishal, invited voters into his luxurious home. Another candidate promised to make Gaza as prosperous as Japan.
Mr Arafat also took to the hustings, although he has in effect been campaigning for weeks with triumphal entrances and speeches in each of the six main West Bank towns handed over to Palestinian control since November.
Repeating what has become his standard campaign speech, the Palestinian leader told supporters in the Jabaliya refugee camp: "Don't vote for Yasser Arafat, but for the candidate you believe will best serve your interests."
In Ramallah, women marked the start of campaigning with a protest march demanding a greater role under self rule. "We want equality, we want to be in ministries," chanted about 50 activists, including two women candidates. "We want a civilised state with women's rights."