Death penalty for drug dealers in Gaza


March 21, 2017
Sarah Benton


Hamas members prepare to execute Palestinians for allegedly spying for Israel in August 2014.

EU Missions condemn death sentences issued in Gaza

Ma’an news
March 21, 2017

BETHLEHEM — The European Union Representative and Heads of Mission in Jerusalem and Ramallah issued a statement on Tuesday condemning the sentencing of two men to death on Sunday by a military court in the Gaza Strip, after the men were found guilty of alleged drug dealing.

It reportedly marked the first time that the death penalty was used in Gaza for a drug-related offence, though a number of Palestinians have been sentenced to death in recent months after being found guilty of collaborating with Israel or of murder.

“The EU Missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah recall their firm opposition under all circumstances to the use of capital punishment,” the statement said.

“The EU considers that abolition of the death penalty contributes to the protection of human dignity and the progressive development of human rights. It considers capital punishment to be cruel and inhuman, that it fails to provide deterrence to criminal behavior, and represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity.”

The statement continued by calling on “the de facto authorities in Gaza,” referring to the Hamas administration, to “refrain from carrying out any executions of prisoners and comply with the moratorium on executions put in place by the Palestinian Authority, pending abolition of the death penalty in line with the global trend.”

The EU missions released a similar condemnation after a Gaza court sentenced a Palestinian man to death earlier this month for the premeditated murder of his wife.

Several Palestinians have been executed in Gaza after Hamas-affiliated members of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza approved the enforcement of death sentences last year.

Senior Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh announced at the time that 13 Palestinians had been sentenced to death by Gaza courts and would be executed as soon as possible.
Under Palestinian law, wilful, premeditated murder and treason as well as collaboration with the enemy — usually Israel — are punishable by death. However, all death sentences must be ratified by the Palestinian president before they can be carried out.

Despite this, the Hamas de facto administration in Gaza has carried out executions periodically without receiving approval from President Mahmoud Abbas since 2010.


Hamas announces public executions that will ‘take Gaza past Saudi Arabia’

By Inna Lazareva, The Telegraph
May 23, 2016

The Palestinian militant group Hamas is to carry out a string of public executions in the Gaza strip, the patch of territory it controls.

The executions were announced by Hamas’s attorney general in Gaza, Ismail Jaber. “Capital punishments will be implemented soon in Gaza,” he said. “I ask that they take place before a large crowd.”

Thirteen men, most convicted of murder connected to robberies, are currently awaiting execution, another Hamas official, Khalil al-Haya, said on Friday at the main prayers.

If all those go ahead, Gaza’s execution rate relative to the size of its population will overtake that of Saudi Arabia’s in one go.

Last year, Saudi Arabia, with a population of 31.5 million, executed 153 people. Though one of the most densely populated territories in the world, Gaza has a population of just 1.8 million.

Palestinian law allows the death penalty for collaborators, murderers and drug traffickers.

On Sunday, the families of the victims of those on death row protested in favour of the executions outside Gaza’s parliament, after the authorities gave a rare permission to stage a public demonstration.

The last time Hamas carried out public executions was during the summer 2014 war with Israel, when a Hamas firing squad shot dead seven people outside Gaza’s main mosque following Friday prayers . Bodies were then dragged through the streets.

According to a May 2015 report by Amnesty International, Hamas forces also carried out at least 23 extrajudicial killings of Palestinians in Gaza in 2014, with at least 17 people killed on one day alone.

So far in 2016, approximately 10 people have been sentenced to death in Gaza.

All execution orders must in theory be approved by the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, but his legitimacy is not recognised by Hamas in the Gaza strip.

In February this year, it was announced that Mahmoud Ishtiwi, a commander from Hamas’s military wing, was executed in Gaza by a firing squad.


NOTE

Capital punishment

Out of the 195 countries in the word 58 retain the death penalty. Most of these do not carry it out.

Setting China aside, Amnesty said at least 680 executions were carried out last year [2012] – up by four on the previous year. Half of those took place in Iran (314). Iraq executed 129, Saudi Arabia 79 and the US 43. The minimum number of executions was down from at least 712 in 2009.

The Middle East saw 557 executions in six countries – the vast majority of the list. In Tunisia, 125 people on death row had their sentence commuted to life by the transitional government.

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