Gaza Military Court Issues 5 New Death Sentences
Ref: 85/2023
Date: 07 August 2023
Time: 13:00 GMT
On 26 July 2023, the Military Appeal Court issued 7 death sentences by hanging, including 5 sentences to intensify a life imprisonment into a death sentence, after being convicted of collaboration with Israel, in a precedent that marks the highest number of death sentences have ever been issued in a day since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in 1994.
According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR’s) follow-up, the Military Appeal Court issued death sentences to intensify previous imprisonment sentences against (A. D.) (48), (H. S.) (31), (‘A. S.) (32), (A. Gh.) (34), and (M. S.) (44). The Court also issued two other death sentences against (A. D.) and (H. R.) for collaboration with Israel.
PCHR clearly condemns the crimes of collaboration with the Israeli Occupation, considering collaborators complicit with the Israeli occupation in war crimes committed against the Palestinian people PCHR affirms the importance of prosecuting the collaborators with the occupation. In the meantime, PCHR reiterates that death penalty is not the only mean to achieve justice or deter such crimes; rather, it is an inhumane way that conflicts with Palestine’s international legal obligations under 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 these sentences, the number of persons sentenced to death since the beginning of this year has risen to 12: 9 issued by military courts. Thus, the number of the death sentences issued in the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas since 1994 has risen to 292: 262 in the Gaza Strip, and 30 in the West Bank. Of those issued in the Gaza Strip, 203 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 stresses that bringing civilians before military courts is a flagrant violation of the right to life and Palestine’s obligations under ICCPR and the Palestinian Basic Law that stipulates in Article (30) “every citizen shall have the right to resort to their natural judge.”
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 articles in the Palestinian Law that contradict Palestine’s accession to the ICCPR Protocol aiming at abolishing the death penalty.