Palestinian military court sends five West Bank Hamas members to prison

Five members of Hamas in the occupied West Bank have been given prison sentences by two Palestinian Authority military courts; the trials of four other men have been postponed. A press release from Hamas named the men as Bilal El-Qurm, from the village of Gelqamos; Samer Gradat, from Sila Al-Haretheya; and Refaat El-Hajj, also from Gelqamos. El-Qurm and Gradat were each sentenced to five months in prison; El-Hajj received a six-month suspended sentence.

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The military court in Jericho gave six-month sentences to Abdallah De’eis and Ashraf Asfour, and postponed for six months the trials of Mohamed Hussein Abu Hadid, Mohamed Barakat El-Atrash, Othman El-Qasimi and Moatassem El-Natsha; all of the men are from Al-Khalil.

According to Hamas, the five men sentenced have committed no crime and have been sent to prison for political reasons due to their affiliation with the Islamic Resistance Movement.