After putting 2 men before firing squads, a military...

After putting 2 men before firing squads, a military court heard no witnesses and deliberated less than an hour before sentencing two Palestinians to death and two others to life in prison on similar charges of treason. The verdicts were greeted by sharp bursts of applause in the courtroom in Bethlehem.
The trial took barely two hours, not counting 50 minutes to prepare the verdict, 20 minutes to read it and a half-hour for the court-appointed defense lawyer to ready his plea for mercy. For much of the time, the four defendants, sat in a corner of the courtroom cupping their heads in their hands, surrounded by riot police in visored helmets.
Hussameddin Mousa Aslini, 19, was sentenced to death for having been paid $200 by the Israelis for information and photographs of Hussein Abayat, a Palestinian guerrilla who was assassinated November 9, 2000 by an Israeli combat helicopter firing an antitank missile at his car near Bethlehem.
The other defendant condemned to death was Mohammed Khatib, 29, accused of involvement in the assassination of Abayat and in Israel's capture and shooting of another Palestinian militant, Radi Safi. After the verdict, Safi's wife pronounced herself satisfied.
No appeal of the verdicts is possible, although Arafat can reduce or commute the sentences.