GAZA CITY (AFP) — A bearded man in the blue combat fatigues of the new Hamas-run Gaza police held the steel door open as cameramen clamoured to enter Gaza City's notorious Soraya jail.
Less than an hour earlier the Executive Force, the new face of law and order in the restive coastal territory, had announced it would free 84 prisoners as a gesture of goodwill on Wednesday, the eve of the holy month of Ramadan.
And as part of an ongoing public relations blitz to prove to the world that the Islamist movement has brought stability in the wake of its violent June seizure of Gaza, they wanted everyone to see.
The media was led into a courtyard where dozens of scruffy prisoners stood at attention in neat lines on a clean basketball court, the words "No injustice after today" painted in colourful bubble letters on the wall above the basket.
The men stood in silence as the cameras rolled, with the Executive Force proudly looking on. The tableau soon disintegrated as cameramen crept into the grid, but the bearded wardens herded everyone back into place.
Some of the men were led forward to be interviewed, and a common narrative soon emerged.
"I was here for six years and endured injustice after injustice. But after the Executive Force took over I was able to prove my innocence," said Faiz Azmi, one of many prisoners locked up for "security reasons".
"I tried to prove my innocence under the former regime," Sami Hajji said of his seven-year stint, referring to the previous governments which ruled before the Hamas takeover.
"I told them I was innocent but they didn't believe me. Their case was based on lies. They had no evidence against me."
Other prisoners were released because their sentences were almost up, or because they had taken advantage of a new program that allows them to reduce their sentence by memorising parts of the Koran.
Some were only being held for minor infractions. A warden claimed that the shortest sentence among those being freed was nine months, but a man at the back of one line shyly admitted he had only been in for three days.
The Executive Force herded reporters back to the front. The ceremony moved on. A table stacked high with Korans was dragged out into the courtyard.
As the prisoners' names were called, they stepped towards the flashing cameras, and were given their formal release orders and complementary Korans. Like college graduates, they smiled and shook hands with their captors.
"It's a good deed for Ramadan," Sami Hariki, one of the wardens, said through his thick brown beard as he looked on.
He insisted things had improved since Hamas -- which the United States and the European Union consider a terror organisation -- had taken over. The proof was in the prison.
"We want everyone to see the conditions of our prisons... We have justice now."
The freed prisoners seemed to agree. "God is Great! Long live Hamas! Long live the Executive Force!" some shouted as they were led through the final corridor on their way out of the jail.
The Executive Force followed them out, with more hand-shaking and cheek-kissing, into the crowded dusty streets of downtown Gaza, while guards manning the concrete walls shouted farewell to their charges.
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