18 Maanden is een erg milde straf voor het voorbereiden van een coup. In de meeste landen geldt dit als hoogverraad en staat er de doodstraf of levenslang op. Het is ietwat surrealistisch dat de Palestijnse Autoriteit Palestijnen die een lapje grond aan een Jood verkopen zou ophangen vanwege hoogverraad, maar het voorbereiden van een coup afdoet met anderhalf jaar. Wellicht wil men vooral een signaal aan Hamas geven, zonder de zaak echt op scherp te zetten? Of zou het bewijs aan de magere kant zijn, en is de rechtbank daarom zo mild?
RP
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May 11, 2009 16:25 | Updated May 11, 2009 18:11
PA jails Hamas activist for coup plot
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1242029497962&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
In the first verdict of its kind, a Palestinian Authority court in Nablus on Monday sentenced a Hamas activist to 18 months in prison on charges of plotting to stage a coup against the regime of PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
Meanwhile, Abbas announced that Fatah would convene its sixth "general conference" in the West Bank in early July to pave the way for holding internal elections for the ruling faction for the first time in 20 years.
The Hamas man who was sentenced to prison was identified as 33-year-old Mohammed Sliman Qatanani.
PA security sources said he was arrested about 10 months ago on suspicion of illegal possession of weapons and explosives.
During his interrogation, it transpired that Qatanani had also established a number of clandestine Hamas cells in the West Bank with the aim of toppling Abbas's regime, the sources said.
Qatanani's alleged plot was uncovered by agents belonging to the PA's General Intelligence Service, which has been waging a major clampdown on Hamas members and supporters in the West Bank over the past two years.
This was the first time that a PA court had sentenced a Hamas activist to prison for allegedly conspiring to overthrow the PA regime.
PA officials had claimed in the past that Hamas was continuing its efforts to undermine the PA and extend the Islamic movement's control to the West Bank.
Hamas reacted with fury to the prison sentence, condemning it as a "ridiculous lie." Fazi Sawaftah, a Hamas representative in the West Bank, described the defendant as a "mujahed" [holy warrior] and "political prisoner."
Sawaftah said that the verdict was part of Abbas's attempts to "legitimize" political detentions of Hamas supporters in the West Bank.
"Abbas's security forces have failed to prove that Qatanani or other detained Hamas supporters had used weapons against the Palestinian Authority," he added. "This comes is in spite of the massive and fierce campaign against Hamas and attempts to destroy our movement."
Sawaftah said that if anyone had been plotting to stage a coup it was Abbas and his men in Fatah who refused to accept the results of the January 2006 parliamentary election, hampered the work of the Palestinian Legislative Council, torched the offices of Hamas parliament members and the headquarters of the PA prime minister in Ramallah and fought against the democratically-elected Hamas government.
Speaking to Fatah members in Ramallah, Abbas announced that Fatah would finally convene its long-awaited sixth conference on July 1.
The announcement came in response to allegations that Abbas and representatives of the "old guard" in Fatah were deliberately delaying the conference to avoid internal elections that would see the emergence of younger and fresh faces.
Abbas said that about 1200 Fatah members would attend the conference, which last met some 20 years ago. He said the gathering would take place either in Jericho or in Bethlehem. He said that the conference would be called off if Israel prevented Fatah officials from the Gaza Strip and the Arab world from entering the West Bank.
Abbas also declared that he would announce the establishment of a new PA government within the next 48 hours. The new government is expected to be headed by current PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad.
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