By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
GAZA CITY, Gaza – Hamas has announced that it will continue to execute those it believes are collaborating with Israel. Hamas, the Islamist party that has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, restarted such executions on April 15, executing Nasser Abu Freih and Mohammed Ismail by firing squad. Hamas had not officially executed accused collaborators in five years.
“We will continue to implement the death penalty for all those who were so sentenced,” said Fathi Hamad, Hamas interior minister. “Anyone who finds himself in this treacherous condition is an agent and a spy. He is providing information without regard to who he really is, and should be brought to justice…If there is a death sentence we will implement it immediately in order to preserve our people and its project of jihad and liberation.”
The executions and Hamas government statements caused an outcry among international human rights groups. B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group accused Hamas of not adhering to “even minimal standards of due process” in its trials of alleged collaborators. The Palestinian Center for Human Rights also condemned the executions, saying that any executions conducted without the approval of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are unconstitutional. Further, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said she was alarmed by Hamas’s plan to continue such executions, and was “disappointed” that Hamas has returned to the death penalty, despite the international community’s rejection of the practice.
Local analysts believe that Hamas is not solely motivated in cracking down on alleged collaborators, but rather in reversing internal criticism that it is being soft on Israel. Since Hamas agreed to a ceasefire with Israel after the fighting between Israel and Hamas during the winter of 2008-2009, the party has tried to reassert its internal legitimacy among competing militant factions.
“[T]his recent decisions was…related to internal pressure, where the extreme elements both in Hamas and from other factions are saying: ‘Why are we just holding these collaborators in jail? We want action,’” according to Issam Younis, director of the Gaza-based al-Mezan Center for Human Rights.
For more information, please see:
AFP – Hamas Vows to Keep Executing “Collaborators” in Gaza – 19 April 2010
Ha’aretz – Hamas: We’ll Continue Carrying Out Executions in Gaza – 19 April 2010
The National – Executions by Hamas Condemned as Murder – 18 April 2010
Jurist – UN Rights Chief Denounces Hamas Executions – 16 April 2010
BBC News – “Palestinian Collaborators” Executed by Hamas – 15 April 2010
