UN Rights Chief Urges Israel To Drop Death Penalty Bill Targeting Palestinians

GENEVA, Jan 3 (Bernama-WAFA) -- United Nations (UN) Human Rights Chief Volker Turk on Friday urged the Israeli authorities to drop plans to introduce new legislation that would impose mandatory death sentences exclusively on Palestinians under certain circumstances, both in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and in Israel.

According to the Palestine News and Info Agency (WAFA), Turk said the proposals fly in the face of international law on several levels.

In a statement, he said, “A series of proposals before the Israeli Knesset to lower the threshold for using capital punishment raise serious concerns with respect to discrimination against Palestinians and violations of their due process rights, as well as other breaches of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.”

“When it comes to the death penalty, the United Nations is very clear and opposes it under all circumstances.

“It is profoundly difficult to reconcile such punishment with human dignity and raises the unacceptable risk of executing innocent people,” added Turk.

The High Commissioner said such proposals are inconsistent with Israel’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

“In particular, the introduction of mandatory death sentences, which leave no discretion to the courts violate the right to life,” he said.

“The proposal also raises other human rights concerns, including on the basis that it is discriminatory given it will exclusively apply to Palestinians.”

He said the language of such legislation, along with statements from Israeli politicians, indicates that this is intended to apply only to Palestinians, who are often convicted after unfair trials.

He recalled that denying any Palestinian from the West Bank and Gaza the fair trial guarantees set out in the Fourth Geneva Convention amounts to a war crime.

-- BERNAMA-WAFA