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| PCHR Palestinian Centre for Human Rights PRESS RELEASE |
Ref: 145/2005
Date: 20 November 2005
PCHR Challenges the Constitutionality of the New Judiciary Law for Its Contradiction with the Amended Basic Law, and the High Constitutional Court Postpones the Case
On Saturday, 19 November 2005, the High Court in Gaza, in its capacity as a high constitutional court, decided to postpone the consideration of challenge #4/2005, submitted by PCHR to abolish the Judiciary Law (Law 15) of 2005, to Saturday, 26 November 2005. According to the court ruling, the postponement was decided in order to inform the representative of the Attorney General, representing the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), and the Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), against whom the challenge is submitted, of the timing of the court’s session and to provide them with a copy of the challenge.
PCHR submitted a challenge on Monday, 14 November 2005, against the Judiciary Law, which was ratified by the President of the PNA on 10 November 2005 and was published in the official gazette, issue 60, as it violates the Basic Law, which practically serves as the PNA’s constitution. The challenged law is one of the laws included in article 100 of the Amended Basic Law, which prescribes that “a higher judiciary council shall be established, and the law shall decide its formation, mandate and activities. It shall be also consulted with regard to all draft laws that regulate any affairs of the judiciary, including the Attorney General.” Accordingly, the council must have been consulted with regard to the Amended Judiciary Law before presenting it to the PLC and ratifying it by the President of the PNA. However, this did not happen and the Head of the Higher Judiciary Council stated that the challenged law was not presented to the council in violation of the Palestinian constitution.
In its challenge, PCHR asserts that the challenged law includes many illegal and unconstitutional provisions. In particular, article 65 of the Amended Judiciary Law prescribes that “the President of the PNA shall appoint the Attorney General based on the nomination by the Minister of Justice and the approval of the PLC, and the law shall decide the mandate of the Attorney General.” This article contradicts article 107, paragraph 1, of the Amended Basic Law, which prescribes that “the Attorney General shall be appointed by the President of the PNA based on the nomination by the Higher Judiciary Council.” In addition, there are many contradictions in the challenged law, particularly in articles 36 and 103, which represent a constitutional violation of article 100 of the Amended Basic Law.
In this context, PCHR expresses its grave concerns with regard to the mechanisms used in the approval of draft laws in the PLC, which constitute a legislative chaos. There is now a strong tendency to approve as many draft laws as possible before holding the parliamentary elections on 25 January 2005, which may produce some laws which contradict the Basic Law, as it is the case with regard to the Amended Judiciary Law.
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