URGENT Action - Palestine

[CCADP]

UA 160/05 Fear of imminent execution 13 June 2005

PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY (PA):
30 to 50 Prisoners on Death Row

Amnesty International is concerned that between 30 and 50
prisoners who are held on death row in Palestinian Authority
(PA) prisons are at risk of execution. On 12 June, PA President
Mahmoud Abbas authorized the execution of four prisoners.
These were the first executions to be carried out by the PA since
August 2002.

Wa'el Sha'ban al-Shoubaki, Salah Khalil Musallam, and 'Oda
Muhammad Abu 'Azab, had been sentenced to death in 1995 and
1996 for murder. A fourth man, Muhammad Daoud al-Khawaja,
had been sentenced to death for murder in 2000 by the State
Security Court, which has since been abolished and where trials
were notoriously unfair.

According to PA officials, the PA President, Mahmoud Abbas,
ordered the resumption of executions in response to increased
crime and lawlessness in areas of the Occupied Territories which
fall under PA jurisdiction. It is feared that more executions will
be carried out in the near future.

More than 60 people have been sentenced to death since the
establishment of the PA in 1994. To date nine of those sentenced
to death have been executed and several others have been killed
unlawfully by armed individuals, some inside the prisons and
others after they had escaped from prison. Between 30 and 50
prisoners remain on death row.

Many of those on death row were sentenced to death after unfair
trials in the State Security Court, in military courts or in other
courts. Most were convicted of murder, abduction or rape, and
others were convicted of collaborating with Israeli intelligence
agents to assassinate other Palestinians.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive
as quickly as possible:
- urging PA President Abbas not to ratify any more death
sentences;
- urging that all those who were sentenced to death by the State
Security Court or in unfair trials by other courts be re-tried in
compliance with international standards for fair trial;;
- noting that, while recognizing the PA's right and responsibility
to bring to justice those suspected of recognizably criminal
offences, Amnesty International is unconditionally opposed to
the death penalty in all cases as the ultimate violation of the right
to life, and pointing out that no convincing evidence has ever
been produced that the death penalty is a more effective deterrent
than any other punishment.

APPEALS TO: (As the postal service is unreliable please
send faxes and/or emails)
President
President Mahmoud Abbas
Office of the President
Palestinian Authority
Fax: [phone] (If someone answers ask for a fax
tone)
Salutation: Dear President

Minister of Justice
Farid al-Jallad
Ministry of Justice
Palestinian Authority
Fax: [phone]
9472
Email: [e-mail]
Salutation: Dear Minister

Minister of Foreign Affairs
Nasser al-Qudwa
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Palestinian Authority
Fax: [phone]/ + 972 2 240 3772
Email: [e-mail]
Salutation: Dear Minister

Add the words, VIA ISRAEL at the bottom of each Palestinian
Authority address.

COPIES TO:
Ambassador Hassan Abdel'Rahman
Palestine Liberation Organization Office
1717 K St., N.W. - Suite 407
Washington, DC 20006
T [phone]
F [phone]

Please send appeals immediately.


Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that
promotes and defends human rights.

This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including
contact information and stop action date (if applicable). Thank
you for your help with this appeal.

Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
PO Box 1270
Nederland CO 80466-1270
Email: [e-mail]
www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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