Lebanon Becomes First Middle East Country to Abolish the Death Penalty

Lebanon's parliament voted on 11 August 2026 to abolish capital punishment, becoming the first Middle Eastern state to do so by law. Death sentences are replaced with life imprisonment and aggravated hard labour. Hezbollah's bloc alone opposed the bill. Lebanon had halted executions informally since 2004; 85 death-row inmates will now have their sentences commuted.