‘Discriminatory’ Israeli death penalty law would be war crime, says UN rights chief

Demonstrators raise their hands covered in red paint during a protest near the Knesset after Israel's parliament passed the death penalty law on Monday. Photograph: Ammar Awad/Reuters

A new Israeli law that would allow the execution of Palestinians convicted on terror charges for deadly attacks, but not Jewish extremists accused of similar crimes, would constitute a war crime if enacted, according to one of the UN’s most senior human rights officials.

Speaking amid mounting international condemnation of the bill, the UN’s high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, described the law as “patently inconsistent with Israel’s international law obligations, including in relation to the right to life”. He added that it “raises serious concerns about due process violations, is deeply discriminatory, and must be promptly repealed”.