PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY. ABU MAZEN PLANNING TO EXECUTE DOZENS OF PALESTINIANS ON DEATH ROW

according to news in the Jerusalem Post the President of the Palestinian Authority Abu Mazen has authorized the execution of three Palestinians sentenced to death for having collaborated with Israel.
Sakher Bsaisso, a senior Fatah official who also serves as PA Governor of the Northern Gaza Strip, confirmed the news saying the three were convicted of assisting Israel in the assassination of a number of Palestinian activists in the Gaza Strip over the past four years, but refused to elaborate.
Bsaisso said Abbas's decision to carry out the death sentences came after PA mufti Sheikh Ikrimah Sabri authorized the executions as required by the law. According to the Jerusalem Post, following his election, Abu Mazen approved tens of death sentences handed down to Palestinians found guilty of murder.
Bseisso announced that Abbas had transferred the cases of 51 Palestinians sentenced to death under Arafat to Sheikh Akrima Sabri, the mufti of Jerusalem.
The mufti, who interprets Islamic law, was charged with the task of determining whether the prisoners should be executed.
According to Bassam Eid, director of the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG), Abbas' decision to refer the cases to Sabri doesn't bode well for Palestinian democracy.
"Abu Mazen wants to execute them," Eid said. "He's not going to create any democratic regime."
On the one hand, Abbas talks publicly about democracy, human rights and pluralism; but on the other hand he transfers the names of 51 Palestinians to the mufti, which is against international rules and human rights, Eid said.
"I see it like the other face of the same currency, like Arafat," he added.
The international community needs to look at the "internal situation of the Palestinians and not be so excited by the statements of Abu Mazen," Eid said. He suggested that the international community should consider the PA leadership's respect for international human rights before making contributions to the PA.