Gaza military court sentences two to death for drug offenses
In the first ruling of its kind since the creation of the PA, a military court in Gaza City has sentenced two Palestinians to death for dealing drugs, worrying human rights groups.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — In the first ruling of its kind since the creation of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in 1994, a military court in Gaza City sentenced two Palestinians convicted of selling drugs to death on March 18. The court condemned others convicted of the same charges to prison with hard labor. The sentences were welcomed by many Palestinians but slammed by human rights groups.
According to the charge sheet published by the Ministry of Interior, based on intelligence received, the Palestinian Anti-Narcotics Department arrested the two while in possession of large quantities of drugs they had smuggled across the Gaza Strip’s southern border. A 2013 law on psychotropic substances allows for the execution of drug dealers in the Gaza Strip.
