Lebanon abolishes the death penalty, first Arab country on the Mediterranean

The Lebanese parliament has removed the death penalty from the country's legal order. In its place comes life imprisonment, in some circumstances combined with forced labour. Lebanon thus becomes the first Arab country on the Mediterranean to take this step.

In practice the vote closes a situation that had lasted more than twenty years. The last execution dates from January 2004, and a de facto moratorium had applied since: death sentences continued to be handed down, but were not carried out. The law now brings written law into line with that practice.

Abolition is part of a reform package launched by the government of Nawaf Salam, in office since February 2025 with United States backing. The measures serve to meet the conditions set by Western donors, France and the United States in particular, for releasing the financial aid needed to climb out of the economic collapse that began in 2019. Among the requirements are judicial independence and the protection of human rights.

The vote split the chamber along familiar lines. Hezbollah and its Christian ally, the Free Patriotic Movement founded by former Maronite president Michel Aoun, voted against, presenting the reform as a concession to what their representatives call the country's new masters.

Justice Minister Adel Nassar argued that abolition restores Lebanon's pioneering role in the region on human rights. He specified, however, that the decision should not be read as leniency towards the gravest crimes, for which detention for life remains.

Among international organisations, Human Rights Watch called the vote a historic milestone. Not every voice at home is as clear-cut: the activist Ugarit Yunan asked whether a country still marked by the conflict with Israel is in a position to grasp its full significance.

The session ended in a tense atmosphere, for reasons unrelated to capital punishment. Prime Minister Salam and Defence Minister Michel Menassa divided over a general amnesty law, a file that remains open and weighs on the rest of the reform programme.