How Lebanon Is Leading The Effort To End The Death Penalty In The Middle East With Rafik Zakharia From Lebanese Civil Rights Association At ECPM 2026
Lawyer Rafik Zakharia explained the principles behind the draft bill and how it came to be after 30 years of work.
Lebanon has become the first country in the Middle East to abolish the death penalty.
Speaking to Almost earlier in July at the World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Paris, France, lawyer Rafik Zakharia, a representative of Lebanese Association for Civil Rights, explained the principles behind the draft bill and how it came to be after 30 years of work.
On Aug. 11, the parliament passed the bill, replacing the death penalty with a new sentence called "life imprisonment with aggravated hard labor.”
The law now needs to be signed by Lebanon's president and published in the country's official gazette before it formally takes effect.
Cherry Mohamed
