Ref: 72/2023

Date: 25 June 2023

Time: 12:00 GMT

On Sunday, 25 June 2023, the Military Permanent Court issued a death sentence by hanging against (‘A. N.) after being convicted of killing police officer (Kh. M.), who was on a law enforcement mission on 10 June 2023.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reiterates its condemnation of allmurder crimes and total support with the families of victims of these heinous crimes, stressing the importance of prosecuting the perpetrators and bringing them to justice. In the meantime, PCHR emphasizes that death penalty is not the only mean to achieve justice or deter crimes, bearing in mind Palestine’s accession to the 1989 Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.

With the issuance of this sentence, the death sentences issued by the Court of First Instance since the beginning of this year have risen to 6: 3 issued by civil courts and 3 issued by a military court. Thus, the number of the death sentences issued in the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas since 1994 has risen to 286: 256 in the Gaza Strip, and 30 in the West Bank. Of those issued in the Gaza Strip, 197 have been issued since the 2007 Palestinian political division.

Since the establishment of the PA in 1994, 46 death sentences have been executed: 44 in the Gaza Strip, and two in the West Bank. Of those executed in the Gaza Strip, 33 have been conducted since the 2007 division without the ratification of the Palestinian President in violation of Palestinian law. In this context, PCHR stresses the need to perpetuate the policy of refraining from ratifying death sentences in a prelude to abolishing this punishment from the Palestinian legislations.

PCHR stresses that the Second Optional Protocol to ICCPR is binding to the authorities in Palestine, including the Gaza Strip. Therefore, use of death penalty must stop in a prelude to abolish it from the legislations.

PCHR calls on the authorities in the Gaza Strip not to use the death penalty and replace it with a life sentence with hard labor, urging them to stop trying civilians before the military judiciary and ensuring those accused of serious crimes enjoy their right to defense and a fair trial.

PCHR also urges the Palestinian President to issue a law by decree to repeal any legal articles in the Palestinian Law that contradict Palestine’s accession to the ICCPR Protocol aiming at abolishing the death penalty.