Hamas upholds executions against three Palestinian ‘collaborators’ in Gaza
Rights organizations have repeatedly condemned Hamas for issuing and carrying out death sentences without the approval of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
A military court affiliated with the Islamist Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip upheld on Tuesday death sentences issued against three Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel.
The Ministry of Interior in Gaza said on its website that the defendants were found guilty of “communicating with hostile foreign entities” in violation of Article 131 of the Palestinian Penal Code of 1979.
It remains unclear when the initial death sentences were issued.
One of the defendants is a 67-year-old man from the northern Gaza Strip who was arrested in February 2015 for allegedly spying for Israel. According to the ministry, the man, who was not identified, was recruited by Israeli intelligence in 1997 to provide them with information on Hamas members and their positions in the enclave. He was sentenced to death by hanging.
