Lebanon Abolishes Death Penalty
Lebanon, the first in the Middle East to abolish the death penalty, replaced it with life imprisonment.
Consensus
- The Lebanese parliament voted to abolish the death penalty.
- The death penalty will be replaced with life imprisonment with hard labor.
- Lebanon became the first Arab country to formally abolish the death penalty.
- A de facto moratorium on executions has been in place since January 2004.
- The parliamentary bloc of Hezbollah opposed the law.
- The law was supported by a majority of the 128 members of parliament.
- Courts in Lebanon continued to issue death sentences after 2004, but they were not carried out.
Points of divergence
- The law was introduced in October 2025 and supported by seven deputies from different political blocs. — kommersant
- The National Commission for Human Rights in Lebanon supported the bill and called for the removal of hard labor from the law. — kommersant
- All political parties supported the law except the parliamentary bloc of Hezbollah. — meduza
- The abolition coincided with parliamentary discussion of a controversial general amnesty law, which would reduce sentences or release convicted fighters and drug traffickers, with exceptions. — tg_theinsider
- Human Rights Watch researcher Ramzi Kayyali stated that the death penalty is unique in its cruelty, irreversibility, and susceptibility to arbitrariness, bias, and error. — tg_theinsider
Coverage (4 sources)
- Lebanon first in the Arab world to abolish the death penalty — Коммерсантъ
- Lebanon, the first Arab state, abolished the death penalty — Meduza
- Lebanon first in Arab world to abolish death penalty — The Insider
- Lebanon first in the Middle East to abolish the death penalty — ЭХО / Новости