The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) announced on Sunday its nomination of the group's jailed secretary general Ahmad Sadat as a candidate for the upcoming legislative elections. Rabah Mhanna, PFLP's politburo member, told local newspaper Al-Ayyam that the group has enrolled Sadat on top of its candidate list for the parliamentary elections slated for July 17.

Sadat possesses the competence and capacity to lead the group and to work for the next Palestinian parliament, Mhanna added.

But the PFLP has not yet decided on other candidates to stand in the race, he said.

Sadat and three other militants are jailed in the West Bank city of Jericho together with an aide to late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, accused of smuggling arms during the Palestinian uprising.

Israel, on its part, claimed Sadat ordered the killing of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi in a Jerusalem hotel in 2001.

The jail is guarded by US and British security troops under a 2002 deal between Israel and the Palestinians.