The Palestinian Authority executed Sunday four convicted murderers as part of its campaign to rein in lawlessness and chaos.
The four men executed were sentenced to death by a Palestinian court, said Interior Ministry spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khoussa. Three were hanged and one was executed by a firing squad.ÂÂ
The execution took place after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed the execution orders on Saturday.
‘There is a new policy of enforcing the law, to face and fight the chaos and lawlessness in the Palestinian territories,’ Abu Khoussa said.
The Israeli human rights group B’tselem condemned the executions, urging the PA to halt further executions.
Some 51 Palestinians are on death row, about half of them were convicted with collaboration with Israel.
The PA hopes that applying the capital punishment against murderers would deter criminals and help end the state of lawlessness, and also prevent revenge based killings.ÂÂ
