Date: 13 February
Ref: 14/2014
Time: 12:00 GMT

On Thursday, 13 February 2014, the Court of First Instance in Khan Younis was convened by Judge Khalil Kalakh, acting as president, and Judges Diaa’ al-Astal and Mohammed Abu Mesbeh as members. The Court sentenced (M. S. A.) (21) from al-Sheikh Zayed housing project in the northern Gaza Strip, to death after convicting him of killing (A. Sh.) from Khan Younis on 30 May 2013. The court also sentenced two others to life imprisonment after convicting them of participating in the same crime.

According to PCHR’s documentation, this has been the second sentence of its kind since the beginning of 2014. Thus, the total number of death sentences issued by the Palestinian Authority has risen to 150, of which 123 have been issued in the Gaza Strip and 27 in the West Bank since 1994. Among those issued in the Gaza Strip, 65 have been issued since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2007. The Palestinian Authority also executed 30 death sentences, of which 28 have been executed in the Gaza Strip and 2 in the West Bank. Among those executed in the Gaza Strip, 17 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:

1. 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);
2. Calls for reviewing all legislation 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;
3. 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
4. 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.