Lebanon passes long-sought amnesty law, a day after death penalty repeal

Lebanon’s parliament has approved a general amnesty law that is expected to benefit thousands of convicted prisoners, detainees and wanted people.

The legislation passed Wednesday in a “show-of-hands vote”, reported Lebanon’s official National News Agency. It is the first law of its kind since 1991.

The office of the country’s parliament speaker said the law would “exceptionally” reduce certain prison terms.

Long demanded by numerous Lebanese political factions, the amnesty law aims to reduce overcrowding in prisons, where many inmates await trial for years.

However, it has faced backlash from some family members of Lebanese soldiers and servicemen killed in attacks, who fear the perpetrators could receive undue leniency.

Lebanese authorities did not immediately announce the number of people who would be freed or receive reduced sentences under the law, which comes a day after Lebanon’s parliament also formally abolished the death penalty.

According to Imad al-Hout, one of the lawmakers in favour of the bill, the law reduced the sentences of those facing death and life imprisonment to 17 “prison years”.

That is equivalent to 12 years and nine months of actual imprisonment in Lebanon, where a prison year is calculated as nine months.

The law also calls for the release of inmates in ongoing trials who have been detained for more than 12 prison years without charges.

In its 2025 report, the country’s National Human Rights Commission said that prisons had an overcrowding rate of 300 percent, with prison authorities reporting at least 6,268 inmates by the end of March.

‘Long-awaited’

A push for general amnesty grew after the 2024 fall of longtime Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, as Lebanon jailed many prisoners over events linked to the Syrian civil war.

Most of those prisoners hail from northern Lebanon’s Sunni-majority city Tripoli and are accused of crimes that include attacking the Lebanese army, participating in clashes and planning bombings.

Other political forces, including the Iran-backed Shia movement Hezbollah, have been demanding amnesty for their communities.

Thousands of families from the eastern Baalbek and Hermel regions, bastions of Hezbollah and its ally Amal, where illicit cannabis cultivation is widespread, have been demanding amnesty for drug-related offences and car theft for years.

Christian parties, meanwhile, pushed for an amnesty law to include the families of those who joined an Israeli-backed group and fled to Israel after its withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, fearing reprisals, particularly from Hezbollah and its supporters.

Deputy Walid Baarini praised the “long-awaited passage” of the amnesty law and expressed hope it would mark “a new chapter” that brings justice “to those who deserve it”.

“Amnesty is not forgetting a right, but rather prioritising mercy and wisdom when they align with the requirements of justice and the national interest,” he wrote in a post on X.

Lebanon previously passed a general amnesty law in the wake of its 1975-90 civil war.