Lebanon Abolishes Death Penalty, Becoming First Arab Country to Do So Despite Hezbollah Opposition

Lebanon's parliament approved a historic law on Tuesday abolishing the death penalty, making Lebanon the first Arab country to do so. The new legislation replaces capital punishment with life imprisonment accompanied by hard labor. Although Lebanon had effectively suspended executions since 2004, the death penalty remained in law and was occasionally imposed but not carried out, often commuted later.

The parliamentary vote saw a majority in favor, with Hezbollah's faction as the sole opponent. Lebanese Justice Minister Adel Nassar hailed the decision as a "historic step." Human rights organizations welcomed the move, with Ramzy Kays, a Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, calling it a definitive break from a cruel and irreversible punishment prone to arbitrariness and errors.

Details on the implementation of the "enhanced hard labor" sentence replacing the death penalty remain unclear, with some lawmakers admitting uncertainty. Lebanon's prisons, already overcrowded and under-resourced, have rarely enforced hard labor sentences in recent years.

The abolition coincides with ongoing parliamentary debates over a controversial general amnesty bill, the largest since the end of Lebanon's 15-year civil war in 1990. The bill could reduce sentences or grant early release to convicted armed militants and drug traffickers, sparking protests from families of Lebanese soldiers and security personnel killed or attacked by Islamist groups. These families expressed disappointment, hoping perpetrators would face execution rather than reduced sentences.

Hezbollah has not issued an immediate response to the death penalty abolition but opposed the law, arguing it should not pass before the amnesty bill. Hezbollah fears that converting death sentences to life imprisonment, followed by sentence reductions under the amnesty, would result in overly lenient punishments for those who harmed its members. Lebanon's diverse religious institutions, which also apply the death penalty in some judicial systems, have yet to comment.