Israel: UN experts urge withdrawal of death penalty bill

GENEVA – UN experts* today urged Israel to withdraw a bill proposing the mandatory death penalty for terrorist acts, which would violate the right to life and discriminate against Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory.

“Mandatory death sentences are contrary to the right to life. By removing judicial and prosecutorial discretion, they prevent a court from considering the individual circumstances, including mitigating factors, and from imposing a proportionate sentence that fits the crime,” the experts said.

The Bill would introduce two tracks for the death penalty. In the occupied West Bank, the death penalty would be imposed by military courts under military law for terrorist acts causing the death of a person, even if not intended. In Israel and occupied East Jerusalem, the death penalty would apply under Israeli criminal law but only for the “intentional killing of Israeli citizens or residents”.

Under both tracks, vague and overbroad definitions of terrorist offenses under Israeli law would apply, which can include conduct that is not genuinely terrorist, and the death penalty would be mandatory.

The experts warned that unintentional killings are not ‘most serious’ crimes to which the death penalty can be applied under international law, thus violating the right to life. “Since Israeli military trials of civilians typically do not meet fair trial standards under international human rights law and humanitarian law, any resulting death sentence would further violate the right to life,” they said. “Denial of a fair trial is also a war crime.”

“The Bill makes matters worse by allowing death sentences to be imposed by a simple majority vote of military judges, and banning any pardon or commutation, which expressly violates the right to life,” the experts said.

They noted that the proposed legislation further restricts access to legal counsel, fails to provide a meaningful appeal process and eliminates effective external oversight, further undermining fair trial rights. It may also be applied retroactively, in violation of international law.

The Bill also arbitrarily isolates persons sentenced to death, and mandates execution by hanging within 90 days under secrecy and immunity provisions. “Hanging amounts to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment under international law,” the experts said.

They expressed concern that the two-track system under the Bill would apply the death penalty in a discriminatory manner. “Only Palestinians in the West Bank, not Israeli settlers, are subject to wider criminal liability, military law and military courts, and less due process, and the death penalty in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem applies only to killings of Israeli citizens or residents and under regular Israeli criminal law.”

The experts underlined that the International Court of Justice found that certain Israeli restrictions in the occupied Palestinian territory constituted racial segregation and apartheid. The Court also found that Israel’s occupation violates international law and must be brought to an end. “Israel does not have authority to enforce laws against Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory,” they said.

Given the failings of the military law system applied to Palestinians since 1967, the experts stressed that the risk of death sentences contravening international law is very high. Widespread arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances, systematic violations of due process, pervasive torture, sexual and gender‑based violence, deaths in custody, excessive use of force, inhumane conditions of detention, and discriminatory laws and policies have been extensively documented by the Committee against Torture, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel, the UN Human Rights Office, UN human rights experts, and Israeli, Palestinian and international civil society.

“We urge Israel to put an end to the death penalty, in line with the global trend towards abolition,” they said.

The experts have contacted the Government on an earlier version of the bill.

To learn more about Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council and the Question of Palestine, click here to visit the dedicated webpage.