Last update - 00:00 24/01/2008
Hamas court sentences policeman to death for family feud killing
By The Associated Press
A court in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip sentenced a member of the radical Islamic group's security force to death Thursday for the killing of a colleague in a family feud, Hamas officials said.
It was the first capital sentence handed down in Gaza since Hamas seized control of the territory last June.
A tribunal, described by Hamas as a military court sentenced Yasser Zanoun to be executed by a firing squad, following his conviction for murdering fellow-policeman Ismail Mashwahi shortly after Hamas violently took power in the strip from the rival Fatah movement.
The killing did not appear to be linked to the fighting between the two sides, as Hamas officials said Mashawi was a Fatah loyalist, while Zanoun drifted in and out of the movement.
The sentence has still to be approved by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.
Related articles: