Ref: 26/2008

Date: 07 April 2008

Time: 12:00 GMT   

High Military Court Sentences a Man to Death

PCHR Calls upon Palestinian President Not to Ratify the Sentence and Demands the Abolishment of Death Penalty from Palestinian Law

On Sunday, 6 April 2008, the Palestinian High Military Court in Jenin sentenced Tha'er Mahmoud Husni Rmailat, 23, from Thinnaba suburb east of Tulkarm, to death by firing squad. The court session, headed by Judge Ahmed al-Mbayedh, was held to consider the case of murdering ‘Alaa’ ‘Aayesh Mubarak, a member of the Palestinian National Security Forces. The murderer, Mahmous Husni Rmailat, an officer of the Palestinian Military Intelligence, was sentenced to death. The ruling can be appealed and it needs the Palestinian President’s ratification to be effective.

The defendant’s attorney, Riad al-‘Aarda, stated that he was informed by phone about the date of the court’s session, only one day earlier, although he must have been informed in a written notice at least 72 hours in advance. He added that he applied to the court to allow psychological checking of his client, but the court rejected that. He further demanded delaying his written defense to be delivered after the prosecutor’s intervention, but the session was delayed for an hour only, which is not enough to write a petition in a murder case.

Rmailat was convicted of murdering ‘Alaa’ ‘Aayesh Mubarak, 20, a member of the Palestinian National Security Forces, from Tulkarm refugee camp. Mubarak was shot dead to the head in a street in Tulkarm on 22 October 2006 in the eve of the Eid al-Futr (a major Islamic festivity). The murder was motivated by contentions between Rmailat and the victim’s brother.

PCHR is gravely concerned over continued application of the death penalty in areas under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), and:

1)      Calls upon the PNA to stop the application of such punishment as it violates all international human rights standards and instruments, especially the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment of 1984.

2)      Calls upon Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas not to ratify this cruel and inhuman punishment, and thus stopping its application.

3)      Points out that the call for the abolition of the death penalty does not mean in any case indulgence with those who are convicted of serious crimes, but other deterrent forms of punishment should be considered in a manner that maintain human dignity.

4)      Calls upon the PNA to reconsider Palestinian laws that include the application of such punishment, especially Penal Law #74 of 1936 applicable in the Gaza Strip and Jordanian Penal Law #16 of 1960 applicable in the West Bank, and enact a new united penal law in conformity with the spirit of international human rights instruments, including Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.