2019-06-17

West Bank and Gaza Strip

Human Rights Defenders / West Bank / Gaza / position paper

What is Required Is Enforcing The Presidential Decree-Law On Abolishing The High Criminal Court and Dissolving It At Once

And Responding To The CBO's Vision Regarding the Decree-law on Cyber Crimes 

The announcement of a presidential decree abolishing the decree-law on the High Criminal Court and its amendments, which was referred to on the Bar Association's Facebook page, represents an attempt to rectify the mistake of issuing decree-laws without legal grounds.    

MUSAWA believes that abolishing the decree-law is a triumph for its position, vision, and struggle for abolishing this decree-law since the moment it was first issued in 2017 under the name of Decree-law No (24) of 2017 on the High Criminal Court, and since issuing its amendments under the name of Decree-law No (9) of 2018, whose threats and violations against the Basic Law, the Judicial Authority Act, and international covenants, were identified in a memo published by MUSAWA, the only organization that called for abolishing this decree-law and dissolving the high criminal court once and for all, even after the amendments made on it.

Despite the divergent views regarding these amendments, as some organizations and legal communities positively engaged with it, claiming that it is the best that can be achieved then and that a chance of adjustment could enhance its practical performance, MUSAWA has insisted on its demand to abolish this decree-law and its amendments, as those amendments did not bring any changes!

MUSAWA positively considers the statement issued by the Palestinian Bar Association on 18/4/2019, in which it demanded the abolishment of this decree-law. Furthermore, MUSAWA recalls its position paper issued on 20/4/2018, in which it demanded the organizations, the social and political figures, and the women and youth representatives to raise their voices for abolishing the decree-law on the High Criminal Court and dissolving it. MUSAWA believes that reconsidering the wrong decisions is a virtue, thus, it welcomes the decision on abolishing the decree-law on the High Criminal Court and its amendments, hoping that the competent official authorities will take the needed legal actions to enforce this decision immediately, and expresses its hope for abolishing the decree-law on cybercrimes, or amending it to meet the CBO’s vision. Noting that the legal mechanism for abolishing a decree-law is by issuing a decree-law abolishing it, and publishing the abolishing decree-law in the Palestinian Official Gazette, as decree-laws shall not be abolished by administrative decisions or decrees, affirming that the legal description for the amended decree-law on the High Criminal Court is not subsumed under the notion of “law”.

MUSAWA

17/6/2019