Fawzi Sawalha, an officer of the Palestinian Force-17 (the presidential guard), was sentenced to death on 12 August 1997 by the military court in Nablus. He was tried with three others, Khaldun Sami ‘Abd al-Salam ‘Uthamneh, Taher Ahmad Sharif Jamlan and Naser Rashid Hamadneh, on charges of collaborating with Israel. The other three men received prison sentences. There is concern that all four defendants claimed that they were forced to confess under torture. These claims were not investigated by the judges.
