Sex tape scandal rocks Palestinian leadership

PALESTINIAN officials yesterday rallied round a top aide to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas after a video surfaced showing him in an alleged attempt to trade his influence for sex.

The footage of Rafiq Husseini, shot by a former Palestinian intelligence officer, has caused uproar in conservative Palestinian society.

In the video, broadcast by Israeli TV, Mr Husseini is shown undressing in a bedroom and calling out to an unseen woman, heard speaking off camera, to join him.

“Do I turn off the light or do you? What is the procedure?” he is heard asking the woman.

The former Palestinian intelligence officer, Fahmi Shabaneh, said he secretly took the footage in collusion with the unidentified woman. He said the woman had complained to him that Mr Husseini was making suggestive remarks when she went to his office to ask for help with a family problem.

Mr Shabaneh said he then installed cameras in the woman’s bedroom and filmed Mr Husseini’s next encounter with the woman.

The video was first broadcast by Israel’s Channel 10 TV on Wednesday, and Mr Husseini has declined to comment so far.