Lebanon’s parliament has abolished the death penalty, making the country the first in the Arab world to formally replace capital punishment with life imprisonment and hard labor under aggravated conditions.
The legislative change was approved by a majority of the 128-member parliament, while Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc opposed the abolition.
Lebanon has not carried out an execution since January 2004, although courts have continued to issue death sentences in the years since.
Justice Minister Adel Nassar described the decision as a “historic step,” saying it transforms the country’s decades-long de facto moratorium on executions into the institutional abolition of the death penalty.
The move marks a significant change in Lebanon’s criminal justice system and places the country at the forefront of efforts to abolish capital punishment in the Arab world.
