Lebanon has made history by becoming the first Middle Eastern nation to formally abolish capital punishment. Parliament voted on Tuesday to eliminate the death penalty, replacing it with life sentences involving hard labor. This legislative action concludes a longstanding unofficial halt on executions that began in 2004, during which courts continued issuing death sentences despite the moratorium.
According to Amnesty International data, Lebanon joins a global majority in rejecting capital punishment. Approximately three-quarters of countries worldwide have now eliminated the death penalty either through law or practice. The international landscape includes 113 nations that have abolished it entirely, nine that have ended it for ordinary crimes only, and 23 that maintain it legally but have ceased executions for a decade or more. However, 54 countries retain and continue using the death penalty.
Global execution rates have surged dramatically in recent years. Amnesty International documented 2,707 executions in 2025, representing a 78 percent increase from 1,518 recorded in 2024. This spike was primarily driven by Iran, where executions more than doubled from 972 to at least 2,159. Despite this surge, executions occurred in only 17 countries, marking a continuation of historically low figures since 2018.
Originally reported by Aljazeera →
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