Lebanon first in Middle East to abolish death penalty
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- Lebanon's parliament voted on Tuesday (Aug 11) to abolish the death penalty, becoming the first Middle East country to formally end the practice; the most serious crimes — including murder, terrorism, and espionage — will now carry life sentences with hard labor.
- Lebanon had not carried out an execution since 2004 but continued issuing death sentences, with Amnesty International reporting at least 85 people on death row as of January and a new death sentence handed down as recently as Monday.
- Justice Minister Adel Nassar, who attended the parliamentary session, called the abolition "historic" and said the prior stance had prevented Beirut from obtaining the extradition of suspects from countries that have outlawed capital punishment.
- UN rights chief Volker Turk, the European Union, and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot all welcomed the vote, with Barrot calling it "historic and courageous" and France noting the move affirmed "democratic values and freedoms."
- Human Rights Watch researcher Ramzi Kaiss called it "a monumental step for human rights," while Amnesty International's Middle East/North Africa director Heba Morayef urged authorities to commute all existing death sentences and ratify the key international abolition treaty.
- The source contrasts Lebanon's move with regional trends: Iran carried out more than 2,000 executions last year and Saudi Arabia more than 350, Jordan hanged six men in June after a nine-year moratorium, and Israel's parliament earlier this year passed a law permitting execution of Palestinians convicted of fatal attacks.
Why it matters: Domestically the move is largely symbolic — no one has been executed in Lebanon since 2004 — but Justice Minister Nassar cited real stakes in extradition cases that were previously blocked. Regionally it isolates Lebanon from neighbors moving the opposite direction: Iran and Saudi Arabia alone carried out 2,350+ executions last year, and Israel just expanded its death penalty law to Palestinians.
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