In a hasty trial behind closed doors, two Hamas militants were convicted Monday and sentenced to 15 years in prison at hard labor for building bombs that killed 26 people in Jerusalem.
Jasser Samara and Nassim Abu Rous were arrested Wednesday, two days after Palestinian intelligence uncovered 1,500 pounds of explosive materials in the West Bank city of Nablus.
A senior Palestinian intelligence official said the men recruited the five suicide bombers who carried out last summer’s attacks in Israel.
The trial and sentencing were completed in less than three hours.
“I never had the chance to defend the accused,” said a lawyer hired by the Abu Rous family. “By the time I was allowed inside, they had completed all the procedures.”
A human-rights activist allowed to observe the trial said the men confessed to building the bombs.
