**Translation:**

**Date: April 30, 2013**

**Statement Issued by CWLRCP**

**Preparation for Approving a New Penal Code in Gaza Deepens the Entrenchment of Division**

CWLRCP affirms that presenting a draft of a new penal code in preparation for its approval by members of the Legislative Council in Gaza does not serve the building of Palestinian society on the basis of justice and equality. Nor does it serve the national cause towards achieving national unity, but rather contributes to entrenching the division among the Palestinian people on political and geographical grounds between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

It is worth noting that the Change and Reform Bloc circulated a draft of a new penal code approved in the first reading, of which the Center received a copy. The draft consists of (342) articles and includes fundamental changes from the first draft that was in the Council’s archives, most notably and dangerously: the addition of flogging to the list of penalties, reaching one hundred lashes in cases of adultery, and the addition of Hudud and Qisas crimes to the classification of crimes. The punishment for intentional killing, if Qisas is waived, becomes diya (blood money) and imprisonment for no more than ten years. As for intentional wounding, it is punishable by Qisas, and if it is waived, the punishment is diya and imprisonment for no more than three years. The prescribed punishment for theft reaching the value of the nisaab (a gold dinar or its equivalent in currency) is the amputation of the right hand from the wrist joint. The changes also include many issues related to criminal responsibility and crimes harmful to the family.

The Center believes that the draft penal code presented by the Change and Reform Bloc represents a regression from the general principles of human rights and the principles of justice and the protection of women’s rights, which have been the subject of many discussions in the past to establish them as legal rules in the Basic Law and other laws.

We at CWLRCP warn of the seriousness of the current situation in the Gaza Strip regarding the Change and Reform Bloc’s issuance of laws that affect the lives of the Palestinian community by circumventing the legally established mechanism for enacting legislation, relying on what is known as the “system of authorizations,” which is not governed by recognized legal instruments. We also call on the Change and Reform Bloc in the Legislative Council to stop working on the draft penal code unilaterally until it is discussed and approved by the Legislative Council in its full composition, in a way that serves to end the abhorrent division and strengthen our national unity.

CWLRCP