Colonel executed for rape

Gaza - A firing squad yesterday executed a Palestinian colonel a day after he was convicted in a lightning trial of raping a …

Gaza - A firing squad yesterday executed a Palestinian colonel a day after he was convicted in a lightning trial of raping a six-year-old boy, a Palestinian security official said.

It was the second time the death penalty had been carried out since Mr Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority assumed power in most of Gaza and parts of the West Bank in 1994.

The rapid trial and execution drew swift condemnation from human rights groups.

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