Hamas 'to publicly execute two men in Gaza'
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| The two men reportedly facing execution are among 40 prisoners on death row in Gaza. Photograph: Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Corbis |
Friday 9 August 2013: Amnesty calls for Gaza's ruling party to halt 'inhuman and degrading' executions it says will be carried out next week.
Hamas plans to publicly execute two prisoners in Gaza next week as a "lesson" to others, according to Amnesty International, which has described the move as "deeply disturbing".
The human rights organisation said a 23-year-old man had been sentenced to death for "collaboration with an enemy entity". He told his lawyer he had been beaten during interrogation, Amnesty reported.
An appeal at a military court is scheduled for Wednesday but he will be at risk of imminent execution if it is unsuccessful.
The second man, 27, confessed to the rape and murder of a six-year-old boy in 2000. He was sentenced to death despite being a minor at the time. Amnesty said he was "apparently tortured to 'confess'" to the crime.
The pair are among 40 prisoners on death row in Gaza. The most recent executions, of two men convicted of collaborating, took place in June at a police compound.
One of them reportedly confessed after being tortured, Amnesty said, adding: "Torture and other ill-treatment of detainees in the custody of Hamas security agencies are widespread and systematic."
Philip Luther, the organisation's Middle East and north Africa director, called on Hamas to immediately halt imminent executions and commute all death sentences.
"This and other recent announcements by the Hamas authorities that they will carry out further executions are deeply disturbing," he said.
"The death penalty is cruel and inhuman and there is no evidence that it deters crime more effectively than other punishments. Public executions are degrading and compound the cruelty of the death penalty."
Hamas has carried out at least 16 executions since April 2010, according to Amnesty. Six suspected collaborators were shot dead in the street by masked gunmen shortly before the end of the war in Gaza last November.
Hamas plans to publicly execute two prisoners in Gaza next week as a "lesson" to others, according to Amnesty International, which has described the move as "deeply disturbing".
The human rights organisation said a 23-year-old man had been sentenced to death for "collaboration with an enemy entity". He told his lawyer he had been beaten during interrogation, Amnesty reported.
An appeal at a military court is scheduled for Wednesday but he will be at risk of imminent execution if it is unsuccessful.
The second man, 27, confessed to the rape and murder of a six-year-old boy in 2000. He was sentenced to death despite being a minor at the time. Amnesty said he was "apparently tortured to 'confess'" to the crime.
The pair are among 40 prisoners on death row in Gaza. The most recent executions, of two men convicted of collaborating, took place in June at a police compound.
One of them reportedly confessed after being tortured, Amnesty said, adding: "Torture and other ill-treatment of detainees in the custody of Hamas security agencies are widespread and systematic."
Philip Luther, the organisation's Middle East and north Africa director, called on Hamas to immediately halt imminent executions and commute all death sentences.
"This and other recent announcements by the Hamas authorities that they will carry out further executions are deeply disturbing," he said.
"The death penalty is cruel and inhuman and there is no evidence that it deters crime more effectively than other punishments. Public executions are degrading and compound the cruelty of the death penalty."
Hamas has carried out at least 16 executions since April 2010, according to Amnesty. Six suspected collaborators were shot dead in the street by masked gunmen shortly before the end of the war in Gaza last November.
Courtesy: The Guardian
