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Lebanon abolishes death penalty in landmark parliament vote
AP News • • world
Key Points:
- Lebanon's parliament voted to abolish the death penalty, replacing it with life imprisonment with aggravated hard labor, making it the first Arab country to do so.
- The country has had an unofficial moratorium on executions since 2004, with death sentences being issued but later suspended or commuted.
- The abolition was supported by a majority of the 128-member parliament, except for Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, and was hailed as a historic step by Justice Minister Adel Nassar and human rights groups.
- There is uncertainty about how the new punishment of aggravated hard labor will be enforced, given Lebanon's limited resources and overcrowded prisons.
- The abolition coincides with ongoing debates over a controversial general amnesty law, which has drawn protests from families of victims of Islamist militant attacks who oppose reduced sentences.
