Lebanon’s parliament has abolished the death penalty, replacing it with life imprisonment with aggravated hard labour and making the country the first in the Arab world to formally end capital punishment.
A majority of the 128-member legislature approved the measure on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, despite opposition from Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc.
The vote ends a legal provision that had survived more than two decades of suspended executions. Lebanon last carried out an execution in January 2004, although courts continued to issue death sentences that were not enforced.
Justice Minister Adel Nassar described the decision as a historic step, saying the death penalty had also complicated Lebanon’s efforts to secure the extradition of suspects from countries that prohibit capital punishment.
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The legislation gained fresh momentum this year. Parliament’s Human Rights Committee approved an abolition proposal on February 23, while three parliamentary committees jointly endorsed the bill on July 9, clearing the way for consideration by the full chamber.
The move caps years of unsuccessful efforts to remove capital punishment from Lebanese law. The country had maintained a de facto moratorium since 2004 but continued to retain the death sentence in its statutes.
Human rights advocates welcomed Tuesday’s vote as a significant advance in the protection of human rights.
The abolition was approved as lawmakers also considered other long-pending legislation, including a controversial general amnesty bill.
With the parliamentary vote, Lebanon has moved from simply suspending executions to formally removing the death penalty from its legal system.