{"id":262447,"date":"2026-08-24T11:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T11:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/262447\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T11:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T11:50:11","slug":"lebanon-abolished-the-death-penalty-can-it-now-deliver-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/262447\/","title":{"rendered":"Lebanon abolished the death penalty. Can it now deliver justice?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beirut, Lebanon – Lebanon became the first state in the Middle East to abolish the death penalty<\/a> following a parliamentary vote on 11 August, formalising a two-decade moratorium on capital punishment in the country.<\/p>\n

The achievement caps a nearly 30-year national campaign for nonviolence and has implications for Lebanon\u2019s pursuit of justice in connection with other countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a clear and firm commitment to strip the law and political authority of the power to kill,\u201d Ogarit Younan, co-founder of the national abolition campaign, told The New Arab. \u201cThe death penalty kills, and I cannot accept being a citizen of a state of gallows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lebanon last executed three men in 2004 at Roumieh Prison. Since then, death sentences have still been handed down but not carried out.<\/p>\n

The abolition reverses a regional trend that has seen other states resume executions, pronounce death sentences or pass new death penalty laws.<\/p>\n

In June, Jordan hanged<\/a> six men in its first executions since 2017, and Syria sentenced<\/a> nine men, including former dictator Bashar Al-Assad in absentia, to death earlier this month.<\/p>\n

In March, Israel adopted a discriminatory death penalty law<\/a> mandating executions for \u201cterrorism-related\u201d offences and applied exclusively to Palestinians.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lebanese authorities, the judiciary, will not be resorting to this cruel and irreversible punishment,\u201d Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch, told The New Arab, hailing the new law as a step in the right direction.<\/p>\n

According to Minister of Justice Adel Nassar, abolition in Lebanon can set an example for other states.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistorically, Lebanon was known to be a country that has modern laws, that is keen to protect fundamental rights, to be a pioneer in the region,\u201d Nassar told The New Arab.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of what we lived through here, I think we can give the proper message to the world. We are providing a counterexample.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

The abolition of the death penalty could allow Lebanese authorities to move forward with the investigation and potential prosecutions of those deemed responsible for the Beirut port blast in 2020. [Getty]<\/p>\n

Removing a barrier to justice?<\/p>\n

Abolishing the death penalty in Lebanon opens a path toward resolving one of the most sensitive justice issues in the country: accountability for the 2020 Beirut port blast.<\/a><\/p>\n

Lebanese authorities have previously sought extradition of Russian-Cypriot Igor Grechushkin<\/a>, former owner of the Rhosus container ship allegedly carrying the ammonium nitrate that detonated at the port, in connection with the investigation into the explosion.<\/p>\n

In September, Bulgarian authorities detained Grechushkin on an Interpol notice, but a Bulgarian court rejected Lebanon\u2019s extradition request. Grechuskin\u2019s lawyer had argued Lebanon\u2019s laws on capital punishment put her client\u2019s life at risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder international human rights law, individuals should not be extradited to areas where the death penalty is used,\u201d Kaiss said. \u201cIn Lebanon, there have been several obstacles to justice as a result of the death penalty being in effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

With this obstacle removed, Lebanese authorities may be able to move forward with the investigation and potential prosecutions of those deemed responsible for the port blast.<\/p>\n

The same principle, however, could complicate efforts to hold accountable Syrian members of the Assad regime accused of committing atrocities.<\/p>\n

In February, Lebanon and Syria signed a judicial cooperation agreement<\/a> providing for the transfer of convicted Syrians held in Lebanon to serve out their sentences in Syria.<\/p>\n

Lebanon has also arrested former regime officials and received an extradition request from Syria; the transfer of Syrian officials who fled the country after Assad\u2019s fall has previously been a subject of discussion between the neighbouring countries\u2019 authorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cLebanon will not pursue extradition without assurances that an individual will not be subject to the death penalty,\u201d Nassar said, once the law enters into force upon its publication in the official gazette.<\/p>\n

If Syrian authorities carry out the death sentence against former security chief Atef Najib and the death penalty remains on the books in Syria, Lebanon could be forced to deny extradition of other regime officials in accordance with international law.<\/p>\n

Last Tuesday, Lebanon\u2019s public prosecutor, an office with a degree of independence from the government, approved the extradition<\/a> of former Syrian general Adel Issa under the terms of a 1951 bilateral judicial agreement.<\/p>\n

An anonymous official told AFP that legal and judicial requirements for extradition had been met. The transfer, carried out<\/a> the following day, raises questions about Lebanon\u2019s obligations under the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, to which it is a party and which imposes a duty<\/a> on countries to refrain from extraditing individuals to countries where their right to life is at risk.<\/p>\n

The end of the death penalty could complicate efforts to hold accountable Syrian members of the Assad regime accused of committing atrocities, as Lebanon may not agree to extradition requests to countries where the suspect’s right to life is at risk. [Getty]<\/p>\n

Controversial amnesty on the heels of abolition<\/p>\n

A day after the vote on abolishing the death penalty, Lebanon\u2019s parliament also approved a general amnesty law aimed at reducing rampant prison overcrowding.<\/p>\n

The controversial measure could see around one-third<\/a> of the country\u2019s approximately 8,500 incarcerated people released. The majority of the prison population is comprised of those awaiting trial, and rights groups have previously criticised dangerous conditions<\/a> for inmates.<\/p>\n

The government has publicly disavowed associations between the death penalty abolition law and the general amnesty, though critics<\/a> attribute the latter\u2019s passage to sectarian demands that could allow former members of extremist groups to walk free.<\/p>\n

The exact scope of the amnesty remains unclear, and the law does not provide for broader structural reform to the prison and justice system.<\/p>\n

The text of the abolition bill, in addition to removing all death penalty provisions from Lebanese laws, distinguishes between new penalties for prior sentences and future ones.<\/p>\n

For previous death sentences, such as those handed down to the estimated 85 individuals still on death row<\/a>, it substitutes life imprisonment with hard labour; for future prosecutions of crimes previously punishable by death, the highest penalty will be life imprisonment with aggravated hard labour.<\/p>\n

Activists and rights groups see the abolition victory as a stepping-stone to greater change, including rehabilitation for those accused of crimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis campaign was for the culture of nonviolence, not just to change the law,\u201d Younan told The New Arab. \u201cWe want a civilised state that protects life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Hefel-James is an independent journalist based in Beirut, covering migration and refugee issues, the humanitarian sector, and conflict<\/p>\n

Follow him on X:\u00a0@paul_hj_<\/a><\/p>\n

Edited by Charlie Hoyle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beirut, Lebanon – Lebanon became the first state in the Middle East to abolish the death penalty following…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[32],"tags":[7156,72208,17850,47634,4248,93],"class_list":["post-262447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lebanon","tag-assad-regime","tag-beirut-blast","tag-death-penalty","tag-extradition","tag-justice","tag-lebanon"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117150339911856159","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}