{"id":316510,"date":"2026-04-02T14:43:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T18:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=316510"},"modified":"2026-04-14T16:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T20:31:08","slug":"israels-death-penalty-law-constitutes-discriminatory-regime-of-capital-punishment-un-experts","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/israels-death-penalty-law-constitutes-discriminatory-regime-of-capital-punishment-un-experts\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s death penalty law constitutes discriminatory regime of capital punishment: Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ experts"},"content":{"rendered":"

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2 April 2026<\/p>\n

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GENEVA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Israel\u2019s new law effectively providing for the death penalty solely against Palestinians constitutes a discriminatory regime of capital punishment and manifestly violates Israel\u2019s obligations under international human rights law, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ experts* said today.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe condemn the Knesset\u2019s adoption of this law and call for its immediate repeal,\u201d the experts said. \u201cThis law marks a grave escalation in Israel\u2019s discriminatory oppression of Palestinians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA death penalty regime that is discriminatory in purpose, design or effect is incompatible with the rights to life and equality before the law,\u201d they warned.<\/p>\n

Other aspects of the legislation, including military trials of civilians, systemic due process violations, and execution by hanging make it irreconcilable with the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the experts said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy reintroducing capital punishment in a system that targets solely Palestinians, despite Israel\u2019s prior abolition of the death penalty for murder and its long-standing de facto moratorium on executions, this law institutionalises arbitrary and discriminatory deprivation of life,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

As the experts previously warned,** the legislation preserves and intensifies a dual legal system under which Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are subjected to military law, military courts, and diminished due process guarantees, while Israeli settlers are not.<\/p>\n

\u201cA law that effectively singles out Palestinians for execution conveys that Palestinian lives are less worthy of legal protection,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the context of unlawful occupation and a wider system of racial segregation and apartheid, arbitrary detention, torture, deaths in custody and unlawful killings, the enactment of an official threat of execution is itself a form of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and heightens the risk of arbitrary deprivation of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Knesset has now adopted this law in open disregard of our repeated warnings that it violates Israel\u2019s obligations under international law,\u201d the experts said.<\/p>\n

The experts pointed to the wider legal and institutional context, after the\u00a0International Court of Justice<\/a>\u00a0found that Israel\u2019s legislation and measures in the occupied Palestinian territory violate the prohibition of racial segregation and apartheid.<\/p>\n

\u201cA system of capital punishment imposed on Palestinians within that wider regime of domination, separation and discriminatory subjugation cannot be rendered lawful by formal safeguards or nominal judicial discretion,\u201d they said. \u201cA death penalty regime applied to Palestinians cannot satisfy the requirements of non-discrimination, strict legality and fair trial under international law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mandatory death sentences are inherently arbitrary and under international law \u2014including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Israel in 1991. Capital punishment may be imposed only for the most serious crimes, after fair proceedings, and with access to pardon or commutation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese legal requirements are clearly violated when the death penalty is applied discriminatorily and civilians are tried before military courts that fail to meet international fair trial standards,\u201d the experts warned.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael must immediately repeal this law and refrain from its implementation, by seeking, imposing or carrying out death sentences under its provisions,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call on the Israeli Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, to invalidate this manifestly unlawful legislation without delay, before it gives rise to irreversible harm and further entrenches discrimination, arbitrariness and cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment against Palestinians.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about Special Procedures of the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Human Rights Council and the Question of Palestine, click here to visit the dedicated webpage.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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*The experts:<\/strong><\/p>\n