Palestinian president fires aide over sex scandal

A top aide to the Palestinian president says the chief of staff has been fired for involvement in a sex scandal.

A top aide to the Palestinian president says, the chief of staff has been fired for involvement in a sex scandal.

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Rafiq Natche said on Wednesday, that President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed his chief of staff Rafiq Husseini after he admitted to being videotaped taking off his clothes and getting into a woman's bed.

The tape, broadcasted on Israeli TV in early February, sent shockwaves through conservative Palestinian society. Natche also says Husseini was a victim of entrapment. The tape was shot by a Palestinian intelligence official exposing a sex-for-favors racket.

Natche says, Abbas also decreed that Palestinian intelligence services should not violate people's privacy, a protective move against future such scandals.