Gaza’s military court issued death sentences on Tuesday against three Palestinians charged with collaborating with Israel, according to a statement released by the court.
The statement said that two unidentified Palestinians -(a 59-year-old resident of Gaza City and a 49-year-old resident of Khan Yunis ) were sentenced to execution by hanging for collaborating with Israel.
A 38-year-old resident of Gaza City was sentenced to execution by shooting.
#PalestinianTerritories : Gaza court issues death sentences to Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel – https://t.co/X6oFn9Vi12
— Attika_T (@Attika_t) July 20, 2016
The statement added that a 35-year-old Palestinian from Rafah City was sentenced to 17 years in prison, while a 49-year-old Palestinian also from Rafah City, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
In May, Gaza-based legislators decided that death sentences would be “obligatory after all possible appeals against them are completed.”
This ratification of the death penalty law paves the way for the execution of at least a dozen Palestinians who have been sentenced to death in the besieged Gaza Strip.
On May 17, senior Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, announced that 13 Palestinians had been sentenced to death by Gaza courts and would be executed as soon as possible.
The spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville, said at the time that the UN was “deeply concerned” about the move to implement death sentences in the blockaded Palestinian territory.
“Death sentences may only be carried out in extremely limited circumstances, and pursuant to a trial and appeals that scrupulously follow fair trial standards. We have serious doubts as to whether capital trials in Gaza meet these standards,” Colville said in a statement.
#Palestine – #Hamas executes 3 in Gaza as death penalty resumes https://t.co/6Rg71mE0yx
— Ananke Group (@AnankeGroup) May 31, 2016
Despite international condemnation, three Palestinians were executed by the Hamas government in Gaza earlier this year, two as civilians by hanging and the third as a “militant” by firing squad, according to law in the besieged Gaza Strip. The political affiliation of the supposed militant was not immediately clear.
Under Palestinian law, willful, premeditated murder and treason as well as collaboration with the enemy, usually Israel, are punishable by death.
(MA’AN, PC)
