GAZA CITY: Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip executed three Palestinian men for murder on Tuesday, the attorney general said, drawing condemnation from the United Nations.

The three, who were not named and whose cases were unrelated, were put to death by firing squad behind closed doors, security sources said.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) said, however, that two of them were hanged and the third was shot.

“To achieve public deterrence and curb crime, the competent authorities carried out at dawn on Tuesday, May 31, 2016 execution rulings against three of those convicted of shocking murders,” a statement from the attorney general said.

Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, condemned the executions which he said occurred “despite serious and widespread concerns that international fair trial standards were not respected”.

The European Union, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International all also condemned the killings.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2016