The Colombo High Court today (08) handed down death sentences to eight accused found guilty of committing murder in a case dating back nearly three decades, it was reported. 

Delivering judgment after a lengthy trial, High Court Judge Buddhika Sri Ragala ruled that the charges had been proven beyond reasonable doubt. Seven of the accused were present in court, while proceedings against one were conducted in absentia.

The Attorney General had filed the case over the killings of a man and a woman, and injuries to several others, in the Tarawatta area under Colombo Court jurisdiction on or around September 21, 1997.

The incident stemmed from a prolonged dispute, which escalated into violence. (Newswire)

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The Foreign Ministers of Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom have issued a joint statement expressing alarm over a proposed bill in Israel that would expand the use of the death penalty. 

The ministers warned that the legislation, which could be voted into law next week, risks undermining Israel’s democratic commitments.

“We are particularly worried about the de facto discriminatory character of the bill. The adoption of this bill would risk undermining Israel’s commitments with regard to democratic principles,” the statement read.

The ministers stressed that the death penalty is “an inhumane and degrading form of punishment without any deterring effect,” reiterating their opposition to capital punishment under any circumstances. 

They urged Israeli lawmakers and government officials to abandon the plan, stressing that rejection of the death penalty is a fundamental value shared across Europe.

Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, has already passed the controversial bill instructing military courts to impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis in acts of “terror,” while exempting Jewish Israelis convicted of killing Palestinians. 

The law, approved by 62 lawmakers, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will take effect within 30 days.

The Palestinian Authority has condemned the measure as “a war crime against the Palestinian people,” saying it violated the Fourth Geneva Convention and its guarantees of fair trial protections. (Newswire)

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Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, has passed a controversial one-sided bill that will instruct military courts to impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis in acts of “terror”, but will not impose the same penalty on Jewish Israelis convicted of killing Palestinians.

The law, which enters into effect within 30 days, was approved on Monday in the 120-seat Knesset by 62 lawmakers, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with 48 voting against it and one abstention.

Its passage marks a major victory for Israel’s far right, with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir having pushed for its enactment as one of the main conditions of his Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party’s coalition agreement with Netanyahu.

The Palestinian Authority called the bill “a war crime against the Palestinian people”, saying that it breached the Fourth Geneva Convention, “particularly the protections it guarantees for individuals and the safeguards for fair trials”.

The new law, introduced as Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza continues, instructs military courts trying only West Bank Palestinians, who are not Israeli citizens, to impose the draconian sentence for lethal attacks on Israelis.

Amichai Cohen, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute’s Center for Democratic Values and Institutions, told the Associated Press that “Jews will not be indicted under this law”.

Under international law, he noted, Israel’s parliament should not be legislating in the West Bank, which is not sovereign Israeli territory in spite of the best efforts of Netanyahu’s far-right coalition to annex the territory to Israel.

The lawyer for the Knesset’s National Security Committee also raised several concerns during earlier deliberations, noting that it did not allow clemency, contradicting international conventions.

Rights group B’Tselem pointed out prior to the Knesset’s approval of the bill that the conviction rate for Palestinians tried in military courts is about 96 percent. “In many cases, these convictions are based on ‘confessions’ obtained through pressure and torture during interrogations,” it said in a post on X on Sunday.

“The law is worded in such a way that it targets only Palestinians. And it will turn the killing of Palestinians into an accepted and common tool of punishment through several mechanisms,” said the group.

According to Palestinian prisoner advocacy group Addameer, more than a third of the 9,500 Palestinians detained by Israel as of March 11 were being held under administrative detention without being tried.

Minutes after the law was passed, the Association of Civil Rights in Israel said it had filed a petition with Israel’s Supreme Court to challenge it, describing it as “discriminatory by design” and “enacted without legal authority” over West Bank Palestinians.

On its website, the association notes, among other criticisms, that the “threshold for imposing the death penalty would be lowered”, with courts able to impose sentences of death by hanging by simple majority rather than a unanimous decision by judges.

Though Israel technically has the death penalty on the books as a possible punishment for acts of genocide, espionage during wartime, and for certain “terror” offences, the country hasn’t put anyone to death since Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was executed in 1962.

Appearing in the Knesset before voting began, Ben-Gvir wore a pin featuring a small metal noose on his lapel. “From today, every terrorist will know, and the whole world will know, that whoever takes a life, the State of Israel will take their life,” he said.

The bill, which comes into effect as the occupied West Bank experiences a surge in Israeli military and settler violence, was condemned by the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom on Sunday.

Amnesty International said in February that it would make the death penalty “another discriminatory tool in Israel’s system of apartheid”. (Al Jazeera)

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Former Human Rights Commissioner Prof. Prathiba Mahanamahewa has recommended that the government consider introducing the death penalty or a comparable alternative, on a short-term basis for large-scale drug traffickers, Lankadeepa newspaper reported.

Mahanamahewa cited international precedents where countries such as Singapore, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Japan, Vietnam and India have temporarily enforced the death penalty to curb serious drug-related crimes during peak periods of narcotics trade.

He further warned of a potential legal gap following the government’s recent decision to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). He noted that many organized criminals and drug traffickers currently detained under the PTA could be released, posing a significant risk.

To address this, Mahanamahewa stressed on the urgent need to pass new legislation focused on combating organized crime before the PTA is officially repealed.

He also called for the establishment of a fast-track judicial process for drug-related cases and strengthening of forensic and judicial mechanisms to expedite trials. Without such measures, he cautioned, offenders may exploit bail opportunities and flee the country once detention periods lapse. (Newswire)

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