Ref: 21/2012
Date: 19 February 2012
Time: 11:50 GMT
On Thursday, 16 February 2012, the Gaza Court of Cassation rejected an appeal submitted by Mohammed Ahmed Baraka, 49, from the central Gaza Strip town of Deir al-Balah, who was sentenced by Deir al-Balah Court of First Instance on 30 May 2010 to death by hanging. Baraka, whose death sentence was upheld by the Court, was convicted of murder in accordance with the Penal Code of 1936.
According to PCHR’s documentation, this is the third death sentence to be upheld in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of 2012.
It is worth noting that the total number of death sentences issued by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) has risen to 124 sentences since 1994, of which 25 have been issued in the West Bank, and 99 in the Gaza Strip. Of those issued in the Gaza Strip, 38 sentences have been issued since 2007.
PCHR is gravely concerned over the continued application of the death penalty in PNA controlled areas, and:
- Calls for an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty as a form of punishment, as it constitutes a violation of international human rights laws and standards, especially the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), and the UN Convention against Torture (1984);
- Calls upon Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas not to ratify such cruel and inhuman punishment;
- Calls for reviewing all legislation related to the death penalty, especially 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; and
- 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 preserve our humanity.
