67
However, the most serious development that has occurred regarding the death
penalty issue in 2010 is the carrying out of (5) death sentences, including (5)
citizens, in violation of the provisions of the Palestinian Basic Law, which requires
the ratification of the Palestinian President of the death sentences issued by civil
or military courts prior to their execution.
On 15/04/2010, the Government in the Gaza Strip implemented (2) death
sentences: one issued against Nasser Salameh Abu Freih, 33, from Abed Rabbo
neighborhood in Gaza, accused of treason, and the other against Mohammad
Ibrahim Ismail Al‐Sabe’, 37, from Rafah, on charges of treason, and sentenced on
03/11/2010.
On 18/05/2010, the Government in the Gaza Strip also carried out (3) death
sentences against Amer Jundiyeh, 45, from Gaza City, on charges of murder, Rami
Mohammad Juha, 24, from Gaza City, on charges of rape and murder , and Matar
Al‐Shobaki, from Gaza City, on charges of murder and theft, through the Civil
Criminal Court. The latter was sentenced on 20/03/1996 and the sentence was
not executed until (14) years after its issuance.
The execution of these sentences was accompanied by many law violations
addressed by ICHR on several occasions.68 The most serious legal offense
(14) Ayman Awad Hussein al‐Massar’a, 29, Gaza City, on charges of kidnapping and participation in a
murder, the military court, sentenced on 06/12/2010.
(15) Fayez Talab Nassar Wahidi, 55, Gaza City, was charged with murder, the Court of First Instance of
Gaza, sentenced on 29/12/2010.
68
For more details on death sentences which have been carried out, see: Yasser Ghazi ‘Alawneh,
Extrajudicial Execution, (Ramallah: Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights, July 2010).
Among the legal violations referred to by this study, the following offenses:
1. Executed rulings were issued by the Military Justice on the basis of the provisions of the PLO
Revolutionary Penal Code of 1979, despite the description of this law as unconstitutional and not
belonging to the PNA legal system. It has not been presented to the Legislative Council, as well as
many of its provisions contradict with international standards of human rights and with the rules
that stipulate bringing civilians before civilian courts and their “natural” judge.
2. Death sentences executed by the President of the Palestinian National Authority have not been
ratified according to the powers set forth in the Basic Law in this regard.
3. Fair trial guarantees were absent in the trials that took place for those death sentences which had
been executed, particularly a person’s right to trial before a competent, independent impartial court,
where all guarantees that allow defendants to exhaust all means of self‐defense are available.
4. Violation of a guarantee to provide the highest degree of justice for those convicted to death by
depriving them of consideration of the cassation ruling issued against them to a death defense and
not an audit, in order to provide a higher degree of justice for people sentenced to death. The
execution of the death penalty without the President's ratification of those provisions buried
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