Ref: 45/2014
Date: 30 April 2014
Time: 09:00 GMT

On Tuesday, 29 April 2014, the Court of First Instance in Khan Yunis was convened by Judge Mahmoud Barakah, acting as president, and Judges Soliman al-Ghalban and Khalil al-Gharabli as members. The Court sentenced B. E. A., 30, from Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, to death after convicting him of killing N. F., from Khan Yunis on 09 March 2009 according to the 1936 Palestinian Penal Code. The court also sentenced H. E. A. and ‘A. N. A., both are 25 years old and from Khan Yunis as well, to life imprisonment after convicting them of having been involved in the same crime.

Thus, the total number of death sentences issued by the Palestinian Authority since 1994 has risen to 153, of which 126 have been issued in the Gaza Strip and 27 in the West Bank. Among those issued in the Gaza Strip, 68 have been issued since Hamas’ takeover of 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 legislations related to the death penalty, especially the Penal Code 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.