Lebanon parliament votes to end death penalty, 1st in Middle East to do so

What the report says

Lebanon’s parliament has approved legislation abolishing the death penalty, a move Al Jazeera says makes the country the first in the Middle East to end capital punishment. The vote took place in Beirut on Tuesday, after lawmakers debated and amended the proposal. The parliamentary speaker’s office said a majority of the 128-member chamber backed the change, while Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc did not support it.

Under the new framework, death sentences will be replaced with life imprisonment with aggravated hard labour. Justice Minister Adel Nassar described the decision as a historic step. The law follows an unofficial moratorium on executions that has been in place since January 2004, although courts have continued to issue death sentences.

Al Jazeera reported that 85 people were facing death sentences at the end of 2025, according to Lebanon’s prison directorate under the justice ministry. Rights group Amnesty International welcomed the decision, calling it a major human rights milestone and a move toward lasting legal protection for the right to life.

The article also noted unresolved questions about how aggravated hard labour will be carried out in practice, given Lebanon’s prison overcrowding and limited resources. The vote comes as parliament separately considers a broader amnesty law that has drawn criticism from families of victims of violence.