Ref: 53/2014
Date: 18 May 2014
Time: 11:10 GMT
On Thursday, 15 May 2014, the Gaza Court of First Instance issued a death sentence against E. M. M. (49) from Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, after convicting him of killing S. S. R. from al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City during a family dispute on 12 January 2008. Due to the family dispute, (S. S. R.) was killed BY several bullets. The Palestinian Police managed to arrest the E. M. M. on 14 March 2011.
The total number of death sentences issued by the Palestinian Authority has risen to 156, of which 129 have been issued in the Gaza Strip and 27 in the West Bank since 1994. Among those issued in the Gaza Strip, 71 have been issued since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2007. The Palestinian Authority also executed 32 death sentences, of which 30 have been executed in the Gaza Strip and 2 in the West Bank. Among those executed in the Gaza Strip, 19 have been executed since 2007 without ratification of the Palestinian President in violation of the law.
PCHR is gravely concerned over the continued application of the death penalty in Palestinian Authority controlled areas, and:
- Calls for an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty as a form of punishment because it violates international human rights standards and instruments, especially the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), and the UN Convention against Torture (1984(;
- Calls for reviewing all legislations related to the death penalty, especially the Penal Law No. 74 (1936) which remains in effect in the Gaza Strip, and the Jordanian Penal Code No. 16 (1960) that is in effect in the West Bank, and enacting a unified penal code that is in line with the spirit of international human rights instruments, especially those pertaining to the abolition of the death penalty;
- Points out that the call for abolition of the death penalty does not reflect a tolerance for those convicted of serious crimes, but rather a call for utilizing deterrent penalties that maintain our humanity; and
- Stresses that ratification of the implementation of death sentences is an absolute power of the Palestinian President according to the Palestinian Basic Law and relevant laws, and no death sentence can be implemented without such ratification.
