President Joseph Aoun has published Law 68, which abolishes capital punishment, putting it into immediate legal effect after parliamentary approval.
President Joseph Aoun has signed Law 68, which abolishes capital punishment in Lebanon, completing the constitutional process required to make the legislation operative. Parliament approved the law days earlier as part of a package of judicial and penal reforms. The measure marks a fundamental shift in Lebanese penal policy, moving the country from a de facto suspension of executions to formal abolition of the death penalty from the legal code.
Lebanon had not carried out any death sentence since 2004, though capital punishment remained inscribed in several laws and courts retained the power to impose it. The abolition now replaces death sentences with alternative penalties in cases that previously carried that sentence. The transition formalises what had been an operational reality for more than two decades.
Two other laws remain under presidential review. A general amnesty law and a media law are still being studied by Aoun and have not yet been promulgated, meaning they have not entered into force. The general amnesty contains provisions affecting those previously sentenced to death or comparable penalties.
The timing of the promulgation coincided with a busy day at Baabda palace, where Aoun also addressed several political and security matters. Among them was the future of the UNIFIL force in the south. Speaking to a parliamentary delegation, Aoun stated that Lebanon's first choice was to extend the international force's mandate and prevent any international vacuum in the region.
The capital punishment law had generated significant legal and human rights attention during parliamentary debate. For years, discussion of the death penalty had divided lawmakers between those calling for complete abolition and those who sought to retain it for the most serious crimes. The passage of the law settled that dispute in favour of abolition.
The law represents a shift from de facto to de jure elimination of a punishment that had remained part of the Lebanese legal system despite long disuse. Courts had technically retained sentencing power even as no executions took place, creating a legal anomaly that the new law resolves. The alternative penalties now available represent the criminal justice framework going forward.
Approval of the capital punishment law came as part of broader judicial reform. The general amnesty law, which parliament had also recently approved, deals with the status of those previously convicted of grave offences. Together, the two measures reshape Lebanon's approach to criminal liability and clemency.
The abolition aligns Lebanon with international human rights standards that call for elimination of the death penalty. The law's entry into force through presidential promulgation finalises a constitutional sequence that began with parliamentary passage. No further steps are required for the measure to take legal effect.
As of now, the general amnesty and media laws remain in the president's office awaiting decision. Their status differs from the capital punishment law, which is now fully operative. How and when those two measures will be handled remains uncertain, leaving those aspects of the legislative package incomplete.
