Lebanon’s parliament has approved legislation seeking to remove capital punishment from the country’s legal system, potentially making Lebanon the first state in the Middle East to formally outlaw executions.
The measure secured majority support in the 128-member legislature during Tuesday’s sitting, although Hezbollah’s parliamentary representatives opposed the proposal.
The bill will next be considered by the cabinet before being submitted to President Joseph Aoun for approval.
Authorities have already indicated their backing for the reform.
Although Lebanon has retained the death penalty, it has not conducted an execution since January 2004.
Courts have nevertheless continued to issue death sentences, with human rights organisations estimating that more than 78 individuals are currently awaiting execution.
If enacted, the reform would substitute capital punishment with life imprisonment accompanied by hard labour.
However, lawmakers have yet to provide detailed provisions explaining how the alternative punishment would operate.
Hard labour remains part of Lebanon’s existing legal framework but has seldom been applied in recent years.
Economic difficulties, together with overcrowded prisons, have severely restricted the state’s ability to implement such measures.
The parliamentary decision follows decades of advocacy from lawyers and civil society organisations seeking to remove executions from Lebanese legislation.
Oragit Younan, co-founder of the Lebanese Association for Civil Rights, said the campaign demonstrated that human rights could still advance despite Lebanon’s difficult circumstances.
She argued that violence should not be answered with further violence and said the country’s current conflict should not prevent efforts to protect fundamental rights.
The vote ends a long-standing unofficial suspension of executions.
Under Lebanon’s legal system, carrying out a death sentence requires authorisation from the president, prime minister and justice minister.
No such approval has been issued since 2004.
Previously, capital punishment could be imposed for offences including aggravated homicide, certain deadly terrorism cases, treason, espionage and crimes threatening national security.
Earlier efforts to eliminate the punishment failed.
Proposals introduced in 2004 and another initiative put forward by the justice ministry in 2008 did not secure the necessary legal changes.
Lebanon’s decision comes amid contrasting approaches to capital punishment across the region.
Jordan resumed executions in June after a seven-year pause, while Israel has moved towards broadening the circumstances under which the death sentence may be applied.
Israeli lawmakers approved legislation in May allowing capital punishment and public proceedings for individuals accused of involvement in the Hamas-led October 2023 attacks and mass abductions.
In Iran, meanwhile, the United Nations has raised concerns over increasing executions.
UN human rights chief Volker Türk said capital punishment was being used in some cases to frighten the population and silence opposition.
He reported that at least 56 people had been executed in Iran on national-security-related allegations since March 19, including 27 individuals whose cases were connected to January’s nationwide protests.
By: Magdalene Agyeiwaa Sarpong