As Lebanon abolishes death penalty, these Arab countries still allow executions

Lebanon has become only the second Arab League member country, after Djibouti, to abolish the death penalty. The Lebanese parliament voted to replace capital punishment with life imprisonment combined with hard labor, formalizing a de facto moratorium that has been in place for over two decades. Existing death sentences have been converted to life imprisonment with aggravated hard labor.

Lebanon's decision goes beyond merely suspending executions; it removes the death penalty from the legal system. This places Lebanon among 21 other Arab League members that still retain capital punishment, including Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and Palestine.

Human rights groups describe some of these countries, such as Algeria, Comoros, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia, as abolitionist in practice, despite the fact that capital punishment remains available under their laws. The last execution in Lebanon occurred in January 2004, but courts continued to issue death sentences. Amnesty International reported that at least 85 people were on death row by January.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, praised Lebanon's decision, urging other Arab countries to follow suit in ending this inhumane practice. Lebanon's move comes as the country debates broader changes to its criminal justice system, including a potential general amnesty law.