PALESTINE: ATTORNEY-GENERAL DEFENDS THE EXECUTIONS IN GAZA

July 18, 2012: Attorney-General Muhammad Abed defended the executions of the three Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as legal, noting that the convicts were given the right to appeal against the death sentences. However, Palestinian human rights organizations and the Palestinian Authority condemned the executions.
One of the executed men was found guilty of murdering a female relative, a second was convicted of murdering his cousin, while a third had confessed to killing a man after stealing his mobile phone. The three crimes, according to Abed, took place in 2004, 2009 and 2010.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights condemned the executions as illegal and unconstitutional. The center said that only the PA president was authorized, in accordance with Palestinian laws, to approve executions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
PA Minister of Waqf and Religious Affairs Mahmoud Habbash denounced the executions as “organized extra-judicial killings.” (Sources: Jerusalem Post, 18/07/2012)