Israeli authorities must urgently repeal legislative amendments expanding Israel’s use of the death penalty, adopted today with a majority of 62 Knesset members, said Amnesty international.
“Today, Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, adopted the first in what threatens to be a series of laws facilitating the use of the death penalty, in a public display of cruelty, discrimination and utter contempt for human rights. The amendment added to Israel’s Penal Law, known as the ‘Death Penalty for Terrorists’, expands the scope and facilitates the use of capital punishment, at a time when there is a global trend towards abolishing it. It also dismantles fundamental safeguards to prevent the arbitrary deprivation of life and protect the right to a fair trial, and further empowers Israel’s system of apartheid, which is maintained by scores of discriminatory laws against Palestinians,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Senior Director of Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns.
“It speaks volumes to the extent of Israel’s dehumanization of Palestinians that this law has passed in the same month in which Israeli military attorney general dropped all charges against Israeli soldiers accused of sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee – a decision celebrated by the Prime Minister and several ministers. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, was among those who voted in favor of the law. For years, we have seen an alarming pattern of apparent extrajudicial executions and other unlawful killings of Palestinians – with the perpetrators also enjoying near-total impunity. This new law which allows for state-sanctioned executions is a culmination of such policies.”
…Israel is brazenly granting itself carte blanche to execute Palestinians while stripping away the most basic fair-trial safeguards.
Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International
The new law explicitly creates two legal frameworks for the use of the death penalty in the occupied West Bank, excluding the illegally annexed East Jerusalem, and in Israel. Military courts in the occupied West Bank will be authorized to impose the death penalty against Palestinians convicted of deliberate killings in actions that are defined as terrorist acts under Israel’s discriminatory counter-terrorism law. Only under special circumstances that the bill fails to specify will courts be allowed to order a life sentence – and life sentence only – instead. The Defence Minister is authorized to determine whether defendants from the West Bank will be tried before military or civilian courts. Those sentenced to death are not entitled to pardon, making this one of the world’s most extreme death penalty laws.
“By authorizing military courts, which have a conviction rate of over 99% for Palestinian defendants and which are notorious for disregarding due process and fair trial safeguards, to impose effectively mandatory death sentences and ordering the execution within just 90 days of the final ruling, Israel is brazenly granting itself carte blanche to execute Palestinians while stripping away the most basic fair-trial safeguards,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas.
Under the second framework applicable in Israel and illegally annexed East Jerusalem, civilian courts’ authority to issue the death sentence would be expanded to include any person convicted of intentionally killing another with the “aim of negating the existence of the state of Israel. Such an ideological requirement for intent practically means the law is designed to target Palestinians.
“Despite few amendments to the previous drafts, any death sentences imposed under this law would constitute a violation of the right to life and, when imposed against Palestinians from the OPT, may also amount to war crimes. The international community must exert maximum pressure on the Israeli authorities to immediately repeal this law, fully abolish the death penalty, and dismantle all laws and practices that contribute to the system of apartheid against Palestinians,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas.
Background
In addition to the death penalty amendment, the Constitution, Law and Justice committee at the Knesset advanced on 24 March for a second and third readings the Tribunals’ Law (“Prosecution of Participants in October 7 Massacre events”) bill, which mandates the establishment of an ad hoc tribunal, effectively acting as a military court, to try individuals charged with participating in the 7 October attacks. The bill authorizes the tribunal to impose the death penalty on those convicted and allows it to significantly deviate from standard procedural rules and evidentiary laws if it is “deemed necessary for the clarification of the truth and performance of justice”.
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty unconditionally, under any circumstances. Article 6(1) of the ICCPR, to which Israel is a state party, protects against the arbitrary deprivation of life, which is, together with torture and other ill-treatment and punishment, absolutely prohibited under customary international law, international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
In the Israeli context, where the justice system, particularly the military justice system, is notorious for its inherently discriminatory nature against Palestinians, and where convictions are routinely based on evidence extracted through torture and other ill-treatment, the use of the death penalty under such laws would amount to a violation of the right to life and of the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
