Lebanon abolishes death penalty, becoming first Middle East country to do so

Parliamentary vote

Lebanon's 128-member parliament voted on August 12 to abolish the death penalty, making the country the first in the Middle East and the Arab world to take this step. The bill passed with a majority, with the exception of the Hezbollah parliamentary bloc. Death sentences will be replaced by life imprisonment with aggravated hard labour. The legislation now awaits the signature of the government, which had expressed support for its approval. The withdrawal of the Lebanese Forces bloc during the July 16 session had previously delayed the vote, but the text was restored as a priority agenda item and approved with amendments incorporated. Crimes committed before the law enters into force will be punished with life imprisonment, and subsequently with aggravated life imprisonment, according to the Lebanese National News Agency.

Lebanon has maintained an unofficial moratorium on executions since January 2004 and has not carried out any execution since then. However, courts continued to issue dozens of death sentences, with the latest handed down on August 11. According to Amnesty International, at least 85 people remained on death row as of January 2026. The Lebanese Ministry of Justice's Directorate of Prisons reported the same figure, 85 people facing death sentences, at the end of 2025. When the law enters into force, Lebanon will become the 114th country to abolish the death penalty for all crimes.

Reactions

Justice Minister Adel Nassar, present in the chamber, called the vote "a historic step" for the nation and said Lebanon "recovers its pioneering role in the region as a defender of human rights." He stressed that abolition should not be interpreted as clemency toward crimes and criminals.

Deprivation of liberty is not clemency.

Ramzi Kaiss, a Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the country is marking a definitive break with a cruel punishment that should never be imposed.

The death penalty is unique in its cruelty and its finality, and is plagued by arbitrariness, bias and error.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk welcomed the decision on X, urging other countries that still maintain the death penalty to follow Lebanon's example. He said the measure represents a firm and determined commitment to the right to life, in a country subjected to devastating attacks and suffering serious losses and profound pain. Council of Europe Secretary General Alain Berset called it a historic and very positive step, noting it carries even more importance as cooperation with Lebanon is strengthened. Portugal's government praised the "courageous decision," highlighting that Portugal abolished the death penalty in 1867.

Implementation and context

It remains unclear how aggravated forced labour will be applied, as several legislators noted that the terms of the new sanction are not fully defined. Although Lebanese legislation contemplates forced labour, the measure has rarely been applied in recent years due to lack of resources and prison overcrowding. Hezbollah has not commented on the vote, nor have the country's religious institutions, in whose own judicial systems the death penalty remains legal.

The abolition comes as parliament debates a controversial general amnesty law, described as the largest since the end of the civil war in 1990, which could reduce sentences or release militiamen and drug traffickers. Relatives of soldiers and security forces members killed in Islamist attacks have protested against the amnesty, saying they expected those responsible to be executed rather than serve prison sentences. Freelance journalist Meret Michel, based in Beirut, noted that the moratorium since 2004 was tied to international pressure, including from the UN Special Tribunal investigating the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which made it a condition that Lebanon not carry out executions. She said the formal abolition is a breakthrough because a moratorium can be ended at any time.

Global landscape

According to Amnesty International's latest report, close to three-quarters of the world's countries had abolished the death penalty in law or practice as of December 2025. The organization recorded 2,707 executions in 2025, up 78 percent from 1,518 in 2024, attributing the increase primarily to Iran, where executions more than doubled from 972 in 2024 to at least 2,159 in 2025. Amnesty's figures exclude thousands of executions carried out in China. Executions were carried out in 17 countries, consistent with historical lows seen since 2018.