Palestinian court sentences collaborator to death

HEBRON, West Bank (Reuters) - A Palestinian military court in the occupied West Bank on Monday sentenced to death a security officer for collaborating with Israel, court officials and security sources said.

The court ruled that Imad Saad, an officer in President Mahmoud Abbas's National Security Forces, provided Israel with information that led to the killing of four Palestinian militants and the arrest of several others.

"The suspect was found guilty of treason," the head of the military court, Ahmad Abu Daya, said during the trial in the

West Bank city of Hebron.

"He did not deny the charges," Abu Daya said.

Abbas, who must approve the sentence, has never authorized the execution of convicted collaborators.

Abu Daya told Reuters after the ruling that Saad belonged to a network of collaborators, including his father, his uncle, and other relatives, who for years have passed information about Palestinian militants to Israel's Shin Bet security agency.

Abu Daya said four other suspects were being prosecuted in civil courts for similar charges.

Palestinians look harshly upon collaboration with Israel and during a Palestinian uprising in 2000 militants publicly executed people they accused of working with the Jewish state.

Human rights groups have criticized death sentences handed down by military courts, saying the trials are unfair and cannot be appealed.