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Press Release: Al Mezan condemns the incessant issuance of death sentences in Gaza and calls for the complete abolition of this practice

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25 May 2022 |Reference 28/2022

On Tuesday morning, 24 May 2022, the Court of Appeals in Gaza sentenced a 31-year-old man resident of Rafah City to death by hanging, following his conviction for the premeditated murder of two-and-a-half Mahmoud Rafaat Shaqfa, on 22 April 2019 using a harmful tool.

 

It should be noted that the Court of First Instance sentenced the convicted man to life imprisonment, however, the Court of Appeals amended the sentence to death by hanging.

 

This ruling brought the number of death sentences issued in 2022 to eight, and to 42 since the State of Palestine ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which aims at the abolition of the death penalty, in 2019.

 

Al Mezan reiterates its strongest criticism of the use of the death penalty, as the practice constitutes a form of inhuman punishment contrary to international legal standards. It is also widely regarded as ineffective in preventing or deterring serious crime. Also, this punishment violates Palestine’s obligations under international human rights law that arise from the State’s accession to international treaties, especially the ICCPR and its optional protocols.

 

Al Mezan calls on all competent Palestinian authorities to immediately stop issuing death sentences, to completely abolish the practice, and to apply more efficient punishments in compliance with Palestine’s international obligations.

 

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