The Palestine High Court today granted an appeal for an order restraining the Palestine authorities from executing Dov Gruner and instructing Lt. Gen. Gordan E. At MacMillan, Palestine millitary commender, and the president of the army court which condemned Gruner to show cause why the verdict should not be set aside.
In grenting the order, requested by Tel Aviv Mayor Israel Rokach in his capecity as president of the city’s Jewish Community Council, the court set hearings on the appeal for Thursday morning. Rokach questioned the legality of the Emergency Defense Regulations of 1945, which provided the authority for the establishment of military courts to try persons charged with terrorist activity.
Last week the Privy Council, Britain’s highest appellate court, refused to hear a plea to save Gruner’s life, asserting that his uncle, a New York resident, was not an interested party and could not lodge an appeal. In its decision, however, the Council referred to a precedent which would permit a representative of a community council to file. Mayor Rokach’s action followed a legal study of the decision. Mrs. Helen Friedman, Gruner’s sister, who flew here to “save” her brother has also initiated action before the Palestine Suprome Court.
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