Lebanon becomes first Arab country to abolish death penalty as Hezbollah votes no
Parliament approves replacing capital punishment with life imprisonment and hard labor after executions had been frozen since 2004; Hezbollah was the only faction to oppose the measure, citing a pending amnesty bill
On Tuesday, Lebanon's parliament voted to abolish the death penalty, marking Lebanon as the first Arab country to formally eliminate capital punishment. Lebanon had maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 2004, though the death penalty remained in place and was occasionally enforced. The newly approved law replaces death sentences with life imprisonment and hard labor.
Most members of Lebanon's 128-seat parliament supported the measure, while Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc was the only faction to vote against it.
Lebanon's Justice Minister Adel Nassar called the approval "a historic step," and human rights organizations welcomed the vote. Ramzi Kaiss, a Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, emphasized that the move marked a "definitive break with a cruel punishment that should never have been imposed." The death penalty is uniquely cruel, irreversible, and plagued by arbitrariness, bias, and error.
However, questions remain over the implementation of the alternative sentence of hard labor, which has rarely been carried out in recent years due to limited resources and capacity in Lebanon's overcrowded prisons. Hezbollah voted against the abolition measure, arguing that the death penalty should not be abolished before lawmakers complete work on a controversial general amnesty bill.
The proposed amnesty could lead to early release or reduced sentences for convicted militants and drug traffickers, sparking protests from relatives of Lebanese soldiers and security force members who were killed or attacked by Islamist groups.
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