World
Lebanon: Parliament abolishes death penalty, a first in the Middle East
On August 11, 2026, Lebanon's parliament voted to abolish capital punishment, making Lebanon the first country in the Middle East and Arab world to take this step. The death penalty is now replaced by life imprisonment with hard labor, a change that applies retroactively to all previously issued death sentences. Lebanon had not carried out executions since 2004 and had been observing an unofficial moratorium. Justice Minister Adel Nassar called the vote "historic," while Human Rights Watch praised it as "a monumental step for human rights."