{"id":1264,"date":"2026-10-10T10:55:22","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T09:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ong-voixlibre.org\/?p=1264"},"modified":"2026-10-10T10:55:26","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T09:55:26","slug":"on-the-international-day-against-the-death-penalty-the-law-mandating-the-execution-of-palestinian-prisoners-is-arbitrary-and-discriminatory-and-must-be-repealed-immediately","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ong-voixlibre.org\/en\/on-the-international-day-against-the-death-penalty-the-law-mandating-the-execution-of-palestinian-prisoners-is-arbitrary-and-discriminatory-and-must-be-repealed-immediately\/","title":{"rendered":"On the International Day Against the Death Penalty: The Law Mandating the Execution of Palestinian Prisoners Is Arbitrary and Discriminatory, and Must Be Repealed Immediately"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

October 10, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The undersigned organizations mark the International Day Against the Death Penalty, observed on October 10, renewing their rejection of the misuse of this penalty under all circumstances, and condemning in the strongest terms the law passed by the Israeli Knesset on March 30, 2026, by a vote of 62 to 48, which makes death by hanging the default sentence for Palestinians convicted before military courts of killing Israelis in acts classified as terrorism. The law does not permit judges to commute the sentence to life imprisonment except under exceptional circumstances, and allows the sentence to be handed down without a unanimous court panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We affirm that this law is discriminatory both in its design and in its effect. Military courts try only Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, while settlers are subject to civilian jurisdiction and are not covered by the mandatory death sentence. The harshest penalty thus becomes reserved for a single category of people, in direct contradiction of the principle of equality before the law guaranteed under Articles 2 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Israel ratified in 1991.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UN experts have repeatedly warned of this trajectory. In February 2026, they called on Israel to withdraw the bill, noting that a mandatory death penalty is inherently arbitrary, and that manslaughter does not fall within the \u201cmost serious crimes\u201d for which international law permits the imposition of the death penalty. In January 2026, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker T\u00fcrk affirmed the United Nations\u2019 opposition to the death penalty under all circumstances, and urged Israel to abandon the proposals. Following the law\u2019s passage, Special Rapporteurs \u2014 including the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Morris Tidball-Binz, and the Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Francesca Albanese \u2014 declared that it constitutes a discriminatory death-penalty regime that flagrantly violates Israel\u2019s international obligations, calling for its immediate repeal and for Israel to refrain from applying it. They further noted that trying civilians before military courts that fail to meet fair trial standards renders any death sentence issued by such courts unlawful, and that this comes against the backdrop of the International Court of Justice\u2019s ruling that Israel\u2019s legislation and measures in the occupied Palestinian territory violate the prohibition of apartheid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The danger of the law is compounded by the fact that the Knesset has no legislative authority over occupied territory, and that the military courts themselves have been documented as engaging in arbitrary detention, torture, coerced confessions, and violations of fair trial guarantees \u2014 violations monitored by the Committee Against Torture, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry, and other UN bodies. In such an environment, the death penalty \u2014 an irreversible punishment \u2014 becomes a tool for taking lives outside any genuine judicial oversight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the criticism and the legal challenges filed by Israeli human rights associations before the Israeli Supreme Court seeking to annul the law and to temporarily freeze its implementation, the Court had not, as of the last available confirmation, issued a freeze order. We affirm that, as called for by UN experts, the Court must annul this legislation without delay, before irreparable harm occurs. By contrast, the inflammatory rhetoric that accompanied the law\u2019s passage \u2014 including statements by ministers in the Israeli government \u2014 demonstrates that the motive is political and retaliatory, not judicial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n