Ref: 102/2008

Date: 13 November 2008

Time: 12:10 GMT

Military Court in Bethlehem Sentences a Palestinian to Death; PCHR Calls upon Palestinian President Not to Approve the Sentence, and for Abolition of Death Penalty in Palestinian Law

On Wednesday, 12 November 2008, the Military Court in Bethlehem sentenced Ayman Ahmed ‘Awwad Daghamgha, 24, a member of the Palestinian General Intelligence Service, from al-‘Arroub refugee camp north of Hebron, to death by firing squad. The trial was administered by a panel of 3 judges (Chief Justice Fares Douda; Judge Fadi Hijazi; and Judges Ahmed Jaddou’). It was held in the headquarters of the Military Court in Bethlehem. Representatives of the prosecution, Major Ibrahim Abu Saleh and First Lieutenant Akram ‘Arar, and the defendant’s lawyer, Khalil al-Heeh, were present in the trial.

The court convicted Daghamgha of treason in violation of article 131/A of the Palestinian Revolutionary Penal Code of 1979, and sentenced him in consensus to death, a sentence that needs the Palestinian President’s approval and which can be appealed against. The bill of indictment presented against the defendant states that he started to collaborate with the Israeli intelligence service when he was working in a gas station in “Kfar Etzion” settlement, south of Bethlehem, in 1999. Since then, he had monitored stone throwers and students and provided information to the Israeli intelligence in exchange of little money. Later, he joined the Palestinian Naval Police in the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) before he moved to the General Intelligence Service. He started to monitor Palestinian resistance cells and to provide information on them to the Israeli intelligence. Such information allowed the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) to extra-judicially execute Jad ‘Atallah Salem and Ahmed Is’haq Hamamda, members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (an armed wing of Fatah movement) on 8 March 2008. He also cooperated with IOF in arresting a number of Palestinians.

It is worth noting that the Revolutionary Penal Code of Palestine Liberation Organization is unconstitutional in the PNA, as it has not been presented to nor approved by the legislature. PCHR has repeatedly called for its abolition as it violates international standards of fair trial and does not include fair and independent mechanisms for appealing against court sentences.

Taking this latest sentence into account, a total of seven death sentences have been issued by Palestinian courts since the beginning of 2008. Two of the sentences have been issued in

the Gaza Strip and five ones in the West Bank. Most of these death sentences have been issued by military courts.

On 24 January, 2008, the Military Court in Gaza sentenced Yasser Sa’id Zanoun, 41, to death. On 6 April, the Military Court in Jenin sentenced Tha’er Mahmoud Ramailat, 23, to death. On 28 April, the Hebron Military Court sentenced ‘Emad Mahmoud Sa’ed, 25, to death. On 15 July, the Military Court in Jenin sentenced Wa’el Sa’id Sa’ed, 27, and Mohammed Sa’ed Sa’ed, 44, to death. On 20 July, the Military Court in Gaza sentenced thirty five year old Eyad Ahmed Sukkar, 35, from Gaza City, to death.

On 29 October 2008, the Gaza Court of Cassation, headed by Judge ‘Abdul Ra’ouf al-Halabi, Head of the Higher Justice Council, supported the death sentences by hanging issued by the Court of Appeal on 14 June 2005 against 4 Palestinians. The defendants are: Eihab Diab Abu al-‘Amrain, 28; Rami Sa’id Juha, 28; ‘Abdul Fattah Mohammed Sammour, 26; and Sa’id Jameel Zuhod, 22.  

None of these sentences has yet been carried out, as the implementation of death sentences in the PNA controlled areas requires the Palestinian President’s ratification according to the Palestinian Basic Law.

PCHR is extremely concerned over the continued application of the death penalty in the PNA controlled areas, and therefore:

1)      Calls upon the PNA to announce an immediate moratorium on the use of this form of punishment, which violates international human rights standards and instruments, especially the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (1966), and the UN Convention against Torture (1984).

2)      Calls upon Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas not to ratify these cruel and inhumane sentences, and to prevent their implementation.

3)      Reiterates that abolishing the death penalty does imply leniency towards dangerous criminals, who must be subjected to punishment that acts as a deterrent, but also maintains human dignity.  

4)      Calls upon the PNA to review all legislation relative to the death penalty, especially Law No. 74 (1936) that remains effective in the Gaza Strip, and the Jordanian Penal Code No. 16 (1960) that remains effective in the West Bank, and to enact a unified penal code that conforms to the spirit of international human rights instruments, especially those pertaining to the abolition of the death penalty.