GAZA: FOUR PALESTINIANS GET DEATH PENALTY BY HAMAS COURT

the Military Court in Gaza sentenced four Palestinians, two from al-Sheja’eya neighborhood and two from al-Tufah neighborhood in the east of Gaza City, to death in absentia. The four Palestinians were convicted for the murder of Husein Ahmed Abu ‘Ajwa, from al-Tufah neighborhood, on  July 5, 2006. Three other Palestinians were sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labor for the same convictions. The four sentenced to death are Hani Ibrahim Zeideya, and three members of the Preventive Security Service: major Bassam Kamal Rahmi, and servicemen Na’el Salah Juha and Mohammed Salem al-Mathloum. The three Palestinians who were sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labor are Mohammed Zaher Zeideya, Hamed Mahmoud al-Sherbasi, and Na’el Jamal Harb. The Court charged the seven Palestinians with forming a “Devil’s Association” in violation of the Revolutionary Penal Code of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) of 1979. The sentences were issued publicly and are subject to ratification and appeal.