GENEVA: The UN’s high commissioner for human rights on Wednesday called on Israel to repeal a newly passed law that establishes a special military tribunal to prosecute Palestinians accused of involvement in the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks.
Volker Turk said victims of the attacks deserved justice and accountability but warned that the new court would fail to meet international legal standards and risked institutionalizing discriminatory treatment against Palestinians.
“The victims of the atrocities committed on Oct. 7 deserve justice and their families and loved ones deserve the full truth,” Turk said in a statement issued in Geneva.
“There must be full accountability for these horrific attacks but this cannot be achieved through trials that fall short of international standards.”
The law, passed by the Israeli parliament this week, creates a special military court with jurisdiction over Palestinians accused of links to the attacks carried out by Hamas-led militants in southern Israel. The tribunal would not have authority to investigate alleged crimes committed by Israeli forces in the occupied Palestinian territories during or after the attacks.
Turk said the legislation risked creating “one-sided justice and discrimination against Palestinians.” Provisions allowing for mass trials undermined the presumption of innocence by relying on collective accusations rather than individual criminal responsibility, he added.
The UN rights chief also expressed concern over reports that evidence obtained under duress could be considered admissible under the law, which he said would be a violation of international legal standards.
The legislation also includes provisions allowing a mandatory death sentence for certain convictions linked to the Oct. 7 attacks, reviving the debate over capital punishment in Israel, where the death penalty is rarely imposed and has only been carried out once in the country’s history.
Israeli lawmakers backing the measure argued that extraordinary legal steps were necessary in response to the unprecedented scale of the 2023 attacks, in which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities.
Turk, however, warned that imposing the death penalty on residents of occupied territories would violate international humanitarian law and could amount to a war crime. “This law must be overturned,” he added.
