GAZA: MILITARY COURT SENTENCES MAN TO DEATH

May 9, 2013: the Military Court in Gaza City sentenced M.A.N. (48), a civil servant from al-Sha'af neighbourhood in the east of Gaza City, to death by hanging. The court convicted M.A.N. of spying in favor of an enemy entity, in violation of the Palestinian Revolutionary Penal Code of 1979.  
According to PCHR’s documentation, this sentence is the second of its kind to be issued in 2013. Thus, the number of death sentences issued by the Palestinian Authority (PA) since its establishment in 1994 is 134, including 107 death sentences issued in the Gaza Strip and 27 in the West Bank.
46 of these sentences have been issued since 2007. Of these sentences, 27 have been implemented, including 25 in the Gaza Strip and 2 in the West Bank.
Since 2007, 14 death sentences have been implemented in the Gaza Strip without ratification by the Palestinian President, in violation of the law. 
PCHR notes that the application of the 1979 Revolutionary Penal Code of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is unconstitutional when applied by the PNA as it has neither been presented to, nor approved by, the appropriate legislature.
In addition, since 1995, PCHR has repeatedly called for the repeal of the Penal Code, as it violates international standards for a fair trial. (Sources: PCHR, 09/05/2013)