The Coalition for Integrity and Accountability –AMAN released a position statement on the Decree-Law draft concerning the Palestinian Security Force Court, which is afoot at the Cabinet to be furnished to the President in order to be duly issued as a decree-by-law.
AMAN foresaw in the Decree a form of the fragmentation and cleavage raging against the state institutions, first and foremost, the Judiciary. As the Amended Basic Law stands, the judicial authority shall be one and united, notwithstanding, competent courts, be they Shari’a, Military, or the like, may be established. Taking due account of the schism between the judicial authorities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, this position gains an added importance.
The expansion of the military judiciary mandate to be applied to civilians in specific cases that fall into the “military affairs” throws us back to the state security courts. These bodies were received with a veto by the Palestinian people; especially, during the term of the previous Legislative Council. What’s more, some of the powers vested in the security court by this Decree infringe the mandate of civil judiciary and other competent courts. As the draft stands, the military judicial authority may consider civil cases that has criminal ramifications. Let alone the exclusive mandate it gives to the military judiciary to have the final say on any cases related to military servants regardless the nature of the actus reus. In plain English, this provision revokes the legal mandate of some competent courts such as the corruption prosecution and court.
AMAN also added that such a draft would fuel the roots of autocracy, as it vests the presidency of the security court in one persona. On the contrary, the presidency of civil courts is vested in a panel of well-versed judges. By the same token, the draft stipulates that the state security court shall sever under the Chief-in-Command, i.e. Mr. President. This, in fact, confirms the dominance of the executive authority, represented by the President, over the judicial authority undeterred by the national Palestinian political structure as per the Basic Law provisions, which do not assign the presidency of the military judiciary to the President.
The last syllable of the statement position was given over to appeal to the Cabinet and the Presidency to cast a veto upon the draft due to the many loopholes and unsoundness it is fraught with.
