Lebanon parliament abolishes death penalty, first Arab nation to do so

Lebanon's parliament voted on Tuesday, 11 August 2026 to replace capital punishment with life imprisonment, making the country the first Arab nation to formally abolish the death penalty according to reporting from the state-run National News Agency alongside regional and international channels.

The amendment-laden bill passed by a majority of the 128-member parliament, as reported by sources including the National News Agency. The proposal was put forward by MP Abdul Rahman al-Bizri and had been submitted to parliament in October 2025, backed by seven lawmakers from different parliamentary blocs. The legislation was amended before receiving approval during the session.

Media additions

Under the revised legal text, offences committed before the law takes effect will carry life imprisonment, while crimes committed afterwards will attract aggravated life imprisonment alongside aggravated hard labour. How aggravated hard labour will be enforced remains unclear, with several lawmakers acknowledging that the parameters of the new penalty are yet to be defined. Although hard labour is formally written into Lebanese legislation and judicial rulings, it has rarely been applied in recent times owing to a lack of state resources and severe overcrowding across the prison network.

The legislation applies retroactively, a point highlighted in a statement by the Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon. The EU delegation welcomed the bill, noting that the abolition and its retroactive application build on the country's de facto moratorium on executions maintained since January 2004. Despite this unofficial moratorium, courts continued to issue dozens of death sentences over the intervening years, which were later suspended or commuted.

Justice Minister Adel Nassar, who attended the parliamentary session, described the vote as a historic step for Lebanon.

Human rights organisations and campaigners celebrated the vote. Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon Researcher at Human Rights Watch, stated that the nation is marking a final break from a cruel sentence.

"Capital punishment is unique in its cruelty and finality and is plagued with arbitrariness, prejudice, and error,"

Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon Researcher, via Human Rights Watch and The Independent

Human Rights Watch had urged parliament in July to pass the legislation, and Lebanon's National Human Rights Commission had repeatedly called for abolition, previously urging lawmakers to remove both the death penalty and hard-labour sentences in favour of punishments that respect human dignity and serve rehabilitation.

Opposition to the measure came from the parliamentary bloc of Hezbollah, according to parliamentary sources. Hezbollah offered no immediate comment on the vote, and Lebanon's diverse religious institutions, which retain capital punishment within their respective court systems, have also yet to comment.

The legislative milestone arrives as parliament debates a controversial general amnesty law—described as the largest since the end of the 15-year civil war in 1990—which could see prison terms reduced or certain convicted militants and drug dealers released, subject to exceptions. Relatives of Lebanese soldiers and servicemen killed or attacked by Islamist militant groups have repeatedly demonstrated against the amnesty bill, with some arguing that perpetrators should face execution rather than lighter prison sentences.

Key milestones

• January 2004: Lebanon begins an unofficial moratorium on executions.
• October 2025: Draft legislation to abolish the death penalty is submitted to parliament, backed by seven lawmakers.
• Tuesday, 11 August 2026: Lebanon's 128-member parliament votes to replace capital punishment with life imprisonment.

Penalties under the new law

Crime timing	Penalty
Committed before the law takes effect	Life imprisonment
Committed after the law takes effect	Aggravated life imprisonment plus hard labour