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The Israeli coalition government is expected to back new legislation that would allow military courts to sentence Palestinians to death “even if the decision is not unanimous”, reports Haaretz.
The bill, sponsored by Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman’s party Yisrael Beiteinu, received the support yesterday of the heads of the coalition parties.
According to Haaretz, “military law already allows the death penalty for someone convicted of a terrorist murder if the decision by the judges is unanimous.”
“This bill would allow the death sentence to be imposed by a majority of the judges” and “would also prohibit the commutation of a death sentence.”
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Israeli military courts have a documented conviction rate of 99.74 per cent.
In addition, “the bill includes an article that was not in the coalition agreement, allowing regular Israeli criminal courts, and not only military courts, to sentence convicted terrorists to death.”
Haaretz reports that “the bill is expected to be brought for approval to the Ministerial Committee for Legislation and then to the Knesset within a week or two.”