Skip to main content

PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS: DO NOT RATIFY THA’ER RMAILAT’S DEATH SENTENCE

On 6 April 2008, the Palestinian High Military Court in Jenin sentenced Mr Tha’er Mahmoud Husni Rmailat to death by firing squad. Mr Rmailat, an officer of the Palestinian Military Intelligence, was convicted for the murder of a member of the Palestinian National Security Forces.

The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty (WCADP) is concerned that Mr Rmailat was not given the guarantees of a fair trial. In particular, his lawyer indicated that he was given only one day's notice before the hearing when the legislation of the Palestinian Authority requires that a written notice be sent 72 hours in advance; and that his client was denied a psychological evaluation.

The WCADP notes with satisfaction that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree on 22 June 2005 requesting that all death sentences pronounced by the State Security courts be retried in civilian courts as they were considered to fall short of international standards for fair trials and due process. It also notes that no execution has been carried out since July 2005.

It is concerned however that death sentences continue to be pronounced in conditions that contravene both international standards and the national legislation.

On 18 December 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution calling upon member states that maintain the death penalty to:
- Respect international standards that provide safeguards guaranteeing the protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty, in particular the minimum standards, as set out in the annex to Economic and Social Council resolution 1984/50 of 25 May 1984;
- Establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.

In the spirit of the 2005 presidential decree, attached to the fair administration of justice, and of the United Nations General Assembly resolution, the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty calls upon President of the Palestinian authority Mr Mahmoud Abbas
1) not to ratify Tha’er Rmailat’s death sentence;
2) to issue a Presidential Decree declaring a moratorium on the death penalty, pending total abolition by the Palestinian Legislative Council.

(Version française)

Le 6 avril 2008, la Haute Cour Militaire palestinienne de Jenine a condamné M. Tha’er Mahmoud Husni Rmailat à être exécuté par un peloton d’exécution. M. Rmailat, un agent des services secrets militaires palestiniens, était poursuivi pour le meurtre d’un membre des forces nationales de sécurité palestiniennes.

La Coalition mondiale contre la peine de mort s’inquiète du fait que M. Rmailat n’aurait pas eu droit à un procès équitable. Son avocat a notamment indiqué qu’il n’avait été informé de la tenue de l’audience que la veille alors que la législation de l’Autorité palestinienne exige qu’une note écrite soit envoyée 72 heures à l’avance, et que son client n’avait pas eu droit à une évaluation psychologique.

La Coalition mondiale se félicite du décret pris le 22 juin 2005, par lequel le président de l’Autorité palestinienne Mahmoud Abbas a exigé que les condamnations à mort prononcées par la Cour de Sécurité de l’Etat soient examinées à nouveau par des tribunaux civils, considérant qu’elles n’étaient pas conformes aux normes internationales relatives aux procès équitables et au respect des procédures. Elle note également qu’aucune exécution n’a eu lieu depuis juillet 2005.

La Coalition s’inquiète cependant que des condamnations à mort continuent à être prononcées dans des conditions qui ne sont pas en accord avec les normes internationales et la législation nationale.

Le 18 décembre 2007, l’Assemblée générale des Nations unies a adopté une résolution appelant les Etats membres qui maintiennent la peine de mort à :
- Observer les normes internationales garantissant la protection des droits des personnes passibles de la peine de mort, en particulier les normes minimales, énoncées dans l’annexe à la résolution 1984/50 du Conseil économique et social, en date du 25 mai 1984;
- Instituer un moratoire sur les exécutions en vue de l’abolition de la peine de mort.

Dans l’esprit du décret présidentiel de 2005, attaché à une administration équitable de la justice, et de la résolution de l’Assemblée générale des Nations unies, la Coalition mondiale appelle le président de l’Autorité palestinienne M. Mahmoud Abbas à :
1) ne pas ratifier la condamnation à mort prononcée à l’encontre de M. Tha’er Rmailat
2) prendre un décret présidentiel déclarant un moratoire sur la peine de mort, en attendant l’abolition définitive de la peine capitale par le Conseil législatif palestinien.

Source : http://www.worldcoalition.org/

Comments

Most viewed (Last 7 days)

Florida Set to Execute Man Who Said He Killed to Reach Death Row, Challenging Misconception that Death Penalty Deters Crime

Florida is scheduled to execute James Robertson at noon on Tuesday, October 13, at Florida State Prison. His execution remains scheduled despite the withdrawal of William Lee Thompson’s death warrant, which had called for a 2nd execution that evening. If completed, this will be Florida’s 17th execution of 2026. Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) and partners will be holding a series of vigils and demonstrations across the state. 

Christa Pike's Survival Wasn't a Miracle. That's What Should Scare Us.

What happened in Tennessee's execution chamber is one of the most common failures in medicine Christa Pike is awake. A week after Tennessee strapped her to a gurney and gave her two doses of pentobarbital , she is off the ventilator and speaking from a hospital bed, still shackled to it. Her lawyers call her recovery " medically unprecedented. " Legal scholars say she is the first person in American history to survive a lethal injection after the drug was actually given. I understand the impulse to make such claims. I consulted for Pike's legal team, but I have also spent three decades in operating rooms and intensive care units (ICUs), and I want to resist the word "unprecedented" and the word "miracle" that hovers just behind it.

Christa Pike: 4 Major Questions As She Returns to Death Row

As Christa Pike returns to death row after surviving Tennessee’s attempt to execute her, several questions remain about her case and what comes next.  Pike, 50, was discharged from hospital and moved back to the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, the women’s prison where she was housed for 30 years, her attorneys said on Saturday.  She was hospitalized after surviving 2 doses of the lethal drug pentobarbital as Tennessee attempted to execute her on September 30. Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, her classmate at a Job Corps training program in Knoxville, Tennessee. Pike was 18 at the time. 

Florida executes James Robertson

STARKE, Fla. — A Florida prisoner who said he killed his cellmate specifically to get on death row was executed Tuesday, nearly 18 years after the attack. James Robertson, 63, declined to offer any last words before receiving a three-drug injection and was pronounced dead about 10 minutes later. It was a stark contrast to the failed execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee two weeks ago, where she was rushed to the hospital after surviving two lethal doses of pentobarbital.

USA | Firing squad execution to be livestreamed, Pentagon says

The public will be able to watch the execution of a former US Army major by firing squad, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said. A Defense Department official told the BBC the execution of Nidal Hasan, who shot dead 13 unarmed US soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009, would be livestreamed. It is believed it would be the first public execution in the US in almost a century. The decision to livestream it is "unprecedented in the modern era" and "on uncertain legal terrain", said John Mills, a lawyer who works with inmates sentenced to death.

Saudi Arabia executes two Bangladeshis over 'immoral act' inside mosque

Saudi Arabia has carried out the death penalty on two Bangladeshi nationals in Mecca. The country's Interior Ministry announced this in a statement on Wednesday. According to the report, they were sentenced over allegations of involvement in immoral acts inside a mosque in Mecca. The information was reported by Ajel News, citing the Saudi Interior Ministry's statement. The two Bangladeshis executed were a man and a woman, Nazrul Islam Abdul Basir and Sithi Akhter. The “immoral acts” referred to illicit heterosexual intercourse, not homosexual activity.

What Tennessee wants to do next to Christa Pike is beyond grim

Christa Pike, the woman who survived two execution attempts in Tennessee earlier this week, remains hospitalized in critical condition, where presumably medical staff is at work trying to keep her alive.  If she wakes from the coma she had entered, Tennessee officials want to start anew to inject lethal drugs into her seemingly too-small veins to kill her and carry out the state death warrant. Pike also is being treated for “significant injuries to both arms” sustained when two lethal injections of pentobarbital failed to kill her. If she dies, there will be no need to try again.  As we know by now, Tennessee tried to put Pike to death Wednesday night by lethal injection for a murder she committed when she was 18. She would have been the first woman executed in the state in 200 years. 

Tennessee | Republicans legislature to investigate other execution methods after failed lethal injections

Republican leaders in Tennessee’s legislature say they will investigate the reliability of lethal injection as an execution method after the state failed to execute two death row inmates in the span of five months. Gov. Bill Lee stopped the May execution of Tony Carruthers after a physician unsuccessfully attempted to insert intravenous lines to begin the lethal injection process for over an hour. Death row inmate Christa Pike survived two failed rounds of Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol on Sept. 30 before the execution was halted. Pike, who was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, is receiving medical care in a Nashville hospital. 

Buffalo Tops shooter files last-minute bid to avoid death penalty

Payton Gendron, who is already serving life without parole for killing 10 Black people in a racist mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket in 2022, is asking a federal judge to throw out the case that could send him to death row. Defense attorneys filed the motion Monday — a day before jury selection was scheduled to begin — seeking to dismiss Gendron’s federal indictment. They argued that Black residents are underrepresented in the jury pool for New York’s Western District, according to WIVB and WKBW.

Tennessee | Christa Pike’s lawyer says she has not regained consciousness since her failed execution

Christa Pike has remained unconscious and on a ventilator at a hospital in the four days since her failed execution in Tennessee, and her prognosis might not be known for days more, one of her lawyers said Sunday. Little has been released about Pike’s condition since Wednesday night’s execution attempt. She has since remained hospitalized under guard as doctors try to get the massive dose of the barbiturate pentobarbital out of her system. When asked whether she ever regained consciousness after the execution attempt, Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell, Pike’s lawyer, said on CNN’s “State of the Union”: “Not that I am aware of.”