Hans Rustad Hamas erklærer at de akter å gjennoppta eksekveringen av dødsdommer. Det sitter 11 dødsdømte i fengsel i Gaza. Menneskerettsgrupper protesterer.
Det har ikke skjedd offentlige henrettelser siden 2000, men Hamas skal ha benyttet krigen i januar 2009 til å drepe 17 fanger som hadde rømt fra et ødelagt fengsel.
Nå mener Hamas at det må statueres noen eksempler, ellers vil folk fortsette å spionere for Israel.
Eleven men are on death row in Gaza, six convicted by Hamas courts of murder and five of spying for Israel, said the Gaza-based Independent Commission for Human Rights. Six others have been sentenced to death in absentia.
Palestinian law allows the death penalty for those convicted of collaborating with Israel and other offenses. Courts in Gaza and in the West Bank — ruled by Hamas’ rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas — have handed down death sentences over the years.
But Abbas has not signed execution orders since taking office in 2005, and no officially sanctioned executions have taken place in Gaza since 2000.
Hamas declarations about resuming executions were seen as a move to assert internal control and assert the Islamic militant group’s independence from the Western-backed Abbas.
After three years of a crippling blockade of Gaza’s borders and a devastating Israeli offensive more than a year ago, Hamas has little to offer Gazans other than a promise of maintaining internal security.
Bill Van Esveld of the New York-based Human Rights Watch said that in executing prisoners, Hamas «would be making not just a backward step, but an unprecedented retrograde step.»
Hamas Interior Minister Fathi Hamad first mentioned in a radio interview last month that Hamas intends to execute spies.
His spokesman, Ehab Ghussein, told The Associated Press the executions would deter others.
«If they don’t see that some people are getting executed according to the law, they will continue collaborating with the Israelis,» he said, adding that executions would likely begin «in a few months.»
