Lebanon Abolishes Death Penalty in Landmark Vote

Lebanon Abolishes Death Penalty in Landmark Vote

The News

Lebanon's parliament abolished the death penalty on Tuesday, becoming the first Arab country to scrap capital punishment.

Lawmakers voted to replace execution with life imprisonment with aggravated hard labor.

The move makes Lebanon the first nation in the Middle East to abolish the death penalty.

Timeline

Aug. 11, 2026

Lebanon's parliament passed the measure in a vote that news outlets described as landmark and historic.

Under the change, sentences that would previously have carried execution are now punishable by life imprisonment with aggravated hard labor.

Reactions

The Associated Press, CTV News and France 24 all cast the vote as a milestone, noting Lebanon is the first Arab and first Middle Eastern country to take the step.

What's Next

The new life-imprisonment penalty replaces capital sentencing going forward.

More

The death penalty remains legal across much of the Middle East, leaving Lebanon an outlier in the region after Tuesday's vote.

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