The Lebanese parliament's decision to abolish the death penalty comes amid significant regional changes and reflects the weakening hegemonic role of the ruling Islamic Republic of Iran and its affiliated groups.
On Tuesday, Lebanon's 128-member parliament approved the abolition of the death penalty. Hezbollah, a faction allied with Iran, was the only major parliamentary bloc that did not support the decision; its representatives left the meeting before the vote. The government and the Ministry of Justice supported the approval.
The resolution requires the signature of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and will be published in the official gazette. The president's signature is considered largely a formality. With this law's implementation, articles related to carrying out the death penalty will be deleted from the Lebanese Criminal Justice Code. Under the new law, all death sentences—including those imposed before its adoption—will be commuted to life imprisonment.
Specifically, the death penalty for crimes such as murder, treason, espionage, terrorism, and collaboration with Israel will be replaced by life imprisonment with hard labor. This change is retroactive and abolishes previous death sentences.
According to reports, 85 death sentences have been issued in the country since the beginning of this year, but the convicts remain in prison and no executions have been carried out. In fact, no death penalty has been executed in Lebanon since December 2004; however, courts continued to issue such sentences regularly. The latest death sentence was handed down just one day before the parliamentary vote. Thus, this new decision formally legalizes what has been a de facto 22-year suspension of executions.
This vote comes at a time when the death penalty is on the rise in several regional countries, particularly Iran. According to Amnesty International, at least 2,707 executions were recorded in 17 countries in 2025—the highest number since records began. Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen led these executions.
The Lebanese parliament's decision is a positive sign of the Islamic Republic's weakening regional position in Lebanon and its neighboring countries.
This decision should be seen as a victory and an important step toward abolishing a criminal state practice and respecting the natural right to life in both individual and social spheres. However, this change is not solely the result of a majority vote on Tuesday. More importantly, it is the product of decades of continuous struggle by civil society, anti-execution activists, freedom fighters, and defenders of human life. It also represents a significant move to curb the influence of the religious government and its backward laws.
The recent events in the Lebanese parliament could mark the beginning of broader change in the country and the entire region, ultimately abolishing the inhuman death penalty and returning the right to life and self-determination from governments to society and the masses.
While such expectations are futile when directed at the Islamic Republic—which executes more people than any other regime—the same expectations directed at the suffering people of Iran, as well as progressive, leftist, socialist, and humanitarian fronts, are not unrealistic. They are practical, achievable, and more urgent and necessary than ever.
Execution is a pillar of authoritarian and dictatorial governments, including the Islamic Republic. This rotten, dirty, and medieval foundation must be dismantled and buried in the graveyard of history through the solidarity, consciousness, and self-organization of the working masses and freedom-seeking people.
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