Ref: 102/2013
Date: 03 October 2013
Time: 11:30 GMT

On Wednesday, 02 October 2013, the Ministry of Interior executed a death sentence against (H. M. ‘A) (28) in the Palestinian Police Headquarters (al-Jawazat). The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns the application of the death sentence in the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). PCHR also reiterates that the ratification of death sentences is an exclusive power of the President of the (PNA) under the Code of Criminal Procedures No. (3) of 2001; the implementation of any death sentences without the President’s ratification constitutes a violation of the law and constitution.

According to information provided by sources of the Public Prosecution in Gaza, on 09 May 2010, the aforementioned defendant was sentenced to death in Case No. (22/2010) after having been convicted of murdering H. H. B. in 2009. These sources added that the same court sentenced the same defendant to life imprisonment on 26 May 2010 in Case No. (174/2009) after convicting him of murdering of a child, (M. M. ‘A.), in 2000 when the defendant was a minor.

On 16 September 2012, the Public Prosecution obtained a judgment from the Court of Appeal. This Court sentenced the aforementioned defendant to death by hanging after convicting him of two willful killings.

On 14 July 2013, the Gaza Court of Cassation confirmed the death sentence by hanging issued by the Court of Appeal.

The number of death sentences implemented by the Government in Gaza since the beginning of 2013 has risen to 3. Thus, the total number of death sentences implemented in Gaza since 2007 has risen to 17, including 8 sentences for collaboration with foreign parties and 9 sentences for criminal crimes (murders). Since the establishment of the PNA in 1994, 30 death sentences have been implemented.

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 legislation related to the death penalty, especially the Penal 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
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