Time: 1pm

On Thursday, 5 July 2018, the court of first instance in Gaza City sentenced to death penalty Y.B., a 21-year old resident of Tuffah neighborhood in the city. Y.B. is charged of the premeditated killing of Mahmoud Abu Sido, 22-year old resident Al-Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City, and of trespassing with the intention of violating provisions of the law.

Al Mezan’s documentation shows that since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994 221 death penalties have been sentenced and 44 have been executed. In the Gaza Strip alone, since 9 July 2007, 133 persons have been sentenced to death, with 30 executed.

The latest death penalty sentence is the first to be made after President Mahmoud Abbas, on 7 June 2018, signed the Second Optional Protocol to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights on abolishing death penalty. The President’s decision to join this Protocol was and continues to be welcomed by Al Mezan, which had long worked with partners to advocate such abolition. As a State Party to the ICCP and the Optional Protocol, Palestine must abide by it.

Al Mezan condemns the latest death penalty sentence ruled by the court of first instance in Gaza at a time when competent authorities are obligated to comply with national obligations under signed international treaties—let alone the emerging proof that the death penalty has proven ineffective in preventing or deterring serious crime. In the meantime, Al Mezan calls for legislation that ensures crime is deterred and criminals are penalized, both in full consistency with the provisions of the law and the requirements of human dignity.

Al Mezan stresses that the achievement of stability and security is connected to social and economic conditions rather than to severity of penalties. Unless the underpinning social and economic problems are alleviated and resolved, the recurrence and frequency of such crimes is not an unexpected possibility.

Al Mezan demands that competent Palestinian authorities ensure the immediate cessation of issuing death sentences, completely abolish the death penalty, and comprehensively review current and applicable laws to ensure compliance with Palestine’s international obligations.

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