Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the Palestinian authorities on reports that three death sentences were issued or upheld by Gaza Military Court on 19 July 2016; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We have not raised this issue with the Palestinian Authority (PA) as the sentences were issued by the de-facto authorities in Gaza and the PA, at this present time, has no control over the Gaza Strip. However, the EU missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah issued a statement on 21 July condeming the death sentances, calling for the de facto authorities in Gaza to refrain from carrying out any executions of prisoners and comply with the moratorium on executions put in place by the PA.

On 19 August, I issued a statement condemning the latest death sentence issued in Gaza on 17 August and also called on the de-facto authorities in Gaza to respect the PA’s moratorium on implementation of the death penalty.