Lebanon becomes first Middle Eastern nation to abolish death penalty
The legislative move ends a moratorium in place since 2004, leaving 85 individuals previously facing execution under a new sentencing framework.
Lebanon’s parliament has voted to abolish the death penalty, making it the first country in the Middle East to fully scrap capital punishment. The 128-member legislature passed the measure on Tuesday, replacing sentences of death with life imprisonment accompanied by aggravated hard labour.
The decision formalises a policy shift that has been in effect for over two decades. Lebanon has observed an unofficial moratorium on executions since January 2004, yet its courts continued to issue death sentences during this period. At the end of 2025, 85 individuals were facing death sentences, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Justice’s Directorate of Prisons.
The legislative change occurs against a backdrop of rising global execution rates. According to Amnesty International, 2,707 executions were recorded worldwide in 2025, representing a 78 per cent increase from the 1,518 recorded in 2024. The organisation attributed this spike primarily to a surge in Iran, where executions more than doubled from 972 in 2024 to at least 2,159 in 2025.
Amnesty International’s monitoring data also highlights significant regional disparities in capital punishment enforcement. Executions were carried out in 17 countries in 2025, a figure consistent with historical lows observed since 2018. However, the organisation noted that its figures exclude thousands of executions carried out in China, which it does not monitor.
Globally, the trend towards abolition continues to gain momentum. As of December 2025, close to three-quarters of the world’s countries had abolished the death penalty in law or practice, defined as not having carried out executions for the past 10 years. Some nations have abolished the penalty only for ordinary crimes, retaining it for exceptional circumstances or military law.
