Ref: 21/2022

Date: 24 February 2022

Time: 11:00 GMT

On Thursday, 24 February 2022, Major Felonies Court in Gaza unanimously issued a death sentence by hanging against (S. A.) (34) after he was convicted of the premeditated murder of (‘A. A.) and possession of weapon and fireworks on 26 September 2019 in a family dispute in violation of law.

PCHR emphasizes its total support for the families of victims and importance of the rule of law.

In the meantime, PCHR insists on its position against use of death penalty and believes it is an inhuman punishment. PCHR reiterates that death penalty is not the only mean to achieve justice or deter such crimes; rather, it is an inhumane way that conflicts with Palestine’s international legal obligations under the 1989 Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.

This is the first sentence of its kind in 2022 in the Gaza Strip issued by a court of first instance. Thus, the total number of death sentences issued by courts of first instance in the Palestinian territory since 1994 reached 253; 30 in the West Bank and 223 in the Gaza Strip.

Among those issued in the Gaza Strip, 164 sentences were issued after the 2007 Palestinian political division.

Since the establishment of the PA in 1994, 41 death sentences were executed: 39 in the Gaza Strip, and two in the West Bank. Of those executed in the Gaza Strip, 28 were carried out without the ratification of the Palestinian President in violation of Palestinian law. In this context, PCHR commends the Palestinian President’s position not to ratify any death sentence since 2005 and stresses the need to refrain from ratifying death sentences in a prelude to abolishing this punishment from the Palestinian legislations.

PCHR reminds the authorities in Gaza of Palestine’s international legal obligations under the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which obliges Palestine to suspend use of the death penalty as a prelude to its abolishment from Palestinian legislations. Therefore, PCHR calls on the authorities in the Gaza Strip not to use the death penalty and replace it with a life sentence with hard labor.

PCHR also calls upon the Palestinian President to issue a law by decree to suspend the use of legal articles related to the death penalty in the Palestinian Law until an elected legislative authority assumes the legislative power and abolishes it from Palestinian legislations.