Human rights group blames Israel, PA for violations

A Palestinian human rights group demanded in its annual report issued on Sunday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) cancel 24 death sentences in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group said that since the PA was established in 1999 under "peace deals" with Israel, 27 death sentences had been issued and three of them were carried out.

The report added that of the 15 Palestinians tried by the state security court in 1999, four had received death sentences, and it said that civilians were still being tried in military courts.

The human rights group said in a statement: "We ask a fair trial for all prisoners and call for cancellation of the 27 sentences and for the defendants to be brought before civilian courts." The statement also called on the Palestinian Legislative Council to "legislate a new law to prevent the execution of capital sentence judgments."

The group said torture was still a big problem in Palestinian prisons with 22 people dying in custody since 1994.

Meanwhile, the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem says about 10 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons during interrogation since the beginning of the intifada, the seven-year-long Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.