UN high commissioner for human rights & the Human Rights Watch group condemn the imminent Hamas affiliated executions, illegal without due process and the approval of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

By The Associated Press & Israel Hayom Staff

Gaza’s Islamic terrorist Hamas rulers said Wednesday they intend to execute people convicted of murder even without the needed approval of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Convicted in the absence of due process, the body of a supposed ‘collaborator with Israel’ is dragged through the streets of Gaza, November 2012. Many accuse Hamas of settling personal or political scores, and even ethic cleansing Gaza of it’s dwindling Christian population.[Archive] – Photo AFP

Hamas lawmakers “endorsed” 13 death sentences after mounting pressure from victims’ families. Abbas, based in the West Bank city of Ramallah, has refused to approve the Hamas verdicts and the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights says he is deeply concerned over the imminent executions.

Gaza Children (circled) brought to watch Execution, ‘Palestinian Style’

“The Gaza authorities’ statements follow the demands of several families for the death penalty to be carried out against individuals accused of killing their relatives,” a spokesman for the commissioner, Rupert Colville, said. “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.”

Human Right Watch also condemned the announcement.

“The death penalty is an inherently cruel and irreversible punishment in all circumstances,” said Sari Bashi, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, in a statement. “But it’s particularly egregious to execute defendants sentenced in Gaza, whose court system is rife with coercion, torture and compromised procedures.”

The Palestinians have been divided since 2007, when Hamas violently ousted forces loyal to Abbas from Gaza. Despite a 2014 reconciliation agreement, Hamas remains in control of Gaza.

During Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014, Hamas carried out the extrajudicial killings of 23 alleged spies. It also has executed 19 people convicted of murder or collaboration with Israel since 2007.

The HRW statement noted that the collaboration charge is particularly worrisome, saying that in the absence of due process, the charge “can be used to settle personal or political scores.”

View original Israel Hayom publication at:
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=33921