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committed by the Government in the Gaza Strip in this regard was the execution
of these sentences without the ratification of the Palestinian President, in
violation of Article (109) of the Palestinian Basic Law. This law stipulates “The
death sentence issued by any court shall not be implemented unless after the
ratification by the President of the PNA.”
ICHR finds that issuing death penalties in Palestine, particularly by the military
courts, constitute a violation of a human’s right to life, and the principle of the
right to a fair trial. Although the death penalty is not prohibited under
International Human Rights Law, it is an extreme exception to the fundamental
right to life. It is a deterrent penalty that the international community seeks to
repeal and replace with other penalties, in line with the criminal philosophy
based on the principle of reform.69
Despite the low number of death sentences issued this year (15) compared with
those of the previous year (17), it is remarkable that the death sentences issued
this year were issued only by the Gaza courts, and none were issued by the West
Bank courts. Military courts applied some legal reasoning, and so reduced death
sentences that were imposed on the act under the law to imprisonment penalties
for several years, which ICHR considers to be a positive development.
II ‐ The Right to Physical Safety in 2010
Different forms of ill‐treatment and torture are all prohibited practices which
should be banned and investigated, and which should also allow for the
prosecution and punishment of perpetrators as criminal acts, with no time
restrictions. Perpetrators can be prosecuted even after leaving their official jobs.
Since the beginning of 2010, ICHR received (381) complaints including allegations
of citizens being subjected to torture or cruel, or ill‐treatment, of which (161)
guarantees of the highest degree of the justice that must be provided to those sentenced to the
death penalty. This constituted a clear violation of the provisions of the law.
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In 2007, the General Assembly of the United Nations issued a resolution regarding "a moratorium on
the use of the death penalty", endorsed by (104) countries. It was opposed by only (54) countries, and
(29) states took a position of neutrality of this resolution by abstention from voting.
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