A Palestinian executed late on Wednesday in Gaza City confessed from the gallows to another, previously unsolved homicide.
A statement from the Palestinian Authority Interior Ministry said that the execution was carried out against Ra’zed al-Mughrabi, a resident of Jabalia refugee camp, ”for committing a homicide one year ago”.
A Palestinian civil court had convicted al-Mughrabi for his role in a first-degree murder, which he confessed before judges in the case.
Al-Mughrabi ”confessed before being hanged that he committed another homicide before he committed the first one”, said the Interior Ministry statement.
The statement added that Palestinian police had failed to solve the earlier case.
Since the beginning of the year, according to a survey conducted by the Interior Ministry, crime has increased in the Palestinian territories, including 54 slayings.
Families of victims had been repeatedly demonstrating in the streets of the Gaza Strip, urging Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to enforce the law and execute murderers.
Palestinian security sources reported that there are more than 50 Palestinians convicted of murder and sitting on death row, awaiting higher decisions to enforce their executions.
Abbas and Interior Minister General Nasser Yousef have vowed that deteriorating security in the Palestinian territories would soon be halted and law and order reimposed. – Sapa-DPA