Gaza court issues death penalty to convicted collaborator

A court in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Tuesday sentenced a man to death on charges of collaborating with Israel. The court ruled that the man, identified only as B.H, be sentenced to death by hanging, but did not set a date for the execution. Another man was sentenced to death on criminal charges of killing three Palestinians in Khan Younis. The Hamas-run security services have cracked down on collaborators in the Gaza Strip since launching a campaign in the media to discourage working with Israeli intelligence. Under Palestinian law, collaboration with Israel is punishable by death. However all execution orders must be approved by the president before they can be carried out. Hamas no longer recognizes the legitimacy of incumbent Mahmoud Abbas, whose four-year term ended in 2009. In early August, UN rights chief Navi Pillay described the judicial process in Gaza as deeply flawed. "I am concerned about the process by which death sentences are imposed by military and civilian courts in the Gaza Strip," she said. "Serious concerns have also been raised about ill-treatment and torture during interrogations of persons later sentenced to death."