Lebanon town and district capital in Baalbek-Hermel
Lebanon has passed legislation abolishing the death penalty and replacing it with life imprisonment with aggravated hard labour. Parliament has also approved a separate general amnesty law that will reduce some long sentences and free inmates detained more than 12 prison years while awaiting trial; the measures respond to severe prison overcrowding and political pressures.
Lebanon has passed a landmark amnesty law in a show-of-hands vote, replacing death sentences with long prison terms and reducing others. The law aims to ease prison overcrowding but faces opposition from families of soldiers and some factions. Repeal of the death penalty follows years of debate and sectarian pressures.