Zahhar: Hamas never interfered in Egypt's security

Hamas has never interfered with Egypt's security, senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar said Tuesday. Speaking to Al-Arabiya from Gaza City, Zahhar said that Hamas maintains constant contact with Egyptian intelligence services. The hard-line Hamas official slammed recent accusations by former Egyptian Interior Minister Mahmoud Wagdy that the Islamist group took part in prison riots during Egypt's revolution. Zahhar described Wagdy's testimony to an Egyptian court as "farcical and painful." "There is a plan to show Hamas as a devil in the eyes of Egyptian people," he said. The Hamas official said he would close the smuggling tunnels under Gaza's border "tomorrow" if there was an alternative. In May, The Associated Press reported that orchestrated attacks on prisons in Egypt during the uprising in 2011 saw over 20,000 detainees escape. Around 40 Hamas and Hezbollah members reportedly escaped, together with over 30 leaders in the Muslim Brotherhood.