Ref:
53/2014

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:

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 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;

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.