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Home > A Quiet End to the Death Penalty in Lebanon?

A Quiet End to the Death Penalty in

Lebanon?

The death penalty is not a solution and has not helped reduce crime. It only increased the number
of victims. (Photo: Marwan Tahtah)
By: Sabine Salameh [1]
Published Friday, January 11, 2013
It has been over a decade since Lebanon carried out its last death penalty sentence. Despite
the fervor of some victims families to carry out executions, many say that the government
has instituted a de facto moratorium on the practice.

Before his brother was killed, Charbel Naaman didnt support the death penalty. Now, he has
decorated the entrance to the garage where his brother was slain with banners reading: We want
the death penalty and Hell awaits you.
Some might find his means of expression a bit extreme, but he speaks about his views calmly.
He states that if his brothers murderers are not sentenced to death, hes going to kill them
himself. They have killed my brother, and he is not their first victim, he says.
There are around 60 prisoners awaiting the death penalty Lebanon today, but the last time that
the sentence was actually carried out was in 2004.
The controversy surrounding the death penalty is nothing new, whether in Lebanon or the rest of
the world. In a 2012 Gallup [2] poll, up to 63 percent of the respondents said they were in favor
of the death penalty for a person convicted of murder.
Roy Chbeir, the older brother of Roland Chbeir, was murdered by his friend Charbel (no relation
to Naaman). The court classified Rolands murder as malice aforethought, which means that
the fair punishment as per Article 549 of the Penal Code would be the death penalty.
I wish we could do even more than that, but this is what is possible, said Roy.
The Chbeir family believes that Rolands killer deserves the death penalty, and is even lobbying
for it at various levels. To this end, the family contacted President Michel Suleiman to discuss
the issue with him.
According to Roy, the president was very forthcoming and promised that he would sign the
execution order when it is issued. This comes after Ziad Mkanna, the investigating judge in
Mount Lebanon, recommended that Charbel be sentenced to death in the indictment he issued
against him.
The responsibility for crime does not rest solely with the perpetrator, as the whole of society is
responsible.On 14 December 2012, the criminal court of Mount Lebanon convicted a man in the
killing of Miram al-Achkar. Although Miriams family is devoutly Christian and does not
condone capital punishment, as the slain victims brother Tony asserted, it accepted the courts
decision since it was issued by the state.
Tony continued, If it was up to me, I would not execute him. But the judiciary has decided that
this inhuman crime deserves the death penalty, and we respect the decision of the state.
The first campaign in Lebanon against the death penalty dates back to 1998, when several
activists rallied in Tabajra to protest the execution of Wissam N. and Hassan A.
From that day onwards, civil societys battle to defend life and refuse death as part of the law
began, according to Abbott Hadi Ayya [3], who is active in the group Justice and Mercy.

The death penalty is not a solution and has not helped reduce crime. It only increased the
number of victims by observing the barbaric law of an eye for an eye, said Ayya.
He added, The responsibility for crime does not rest solely with the perpetrator, as the whole of
society is responsible.
While Ayya said that he understood the position of the victims families and their angry reaction,
he stressed that the law is not supposed to accommodate such reactions. The sentencing process
must run its course, and it is unacceptable that it should be fast-tracked just to please the victims
relatives.
Former prime minister Salim Hoss can be credited with taking the most prominent political stand
against capital punishment when he refused to sign execution orders.
In 2000, he asked all those who called on him to sign these orders, You, who believe that death
sentences should be carried out, are you willing to behead someone with your own hands? If the
answer is no, which is what I expect from most people, then why do you excuse yourself in
refusing to carry it out with your own hands, but do not excuse me if I refuse to sign an order to
execute a human being, even if he were a criminal?
In 2006, the Lebanese Association for Civil Rights (LACR) published a comprehensive study of
the Lebanese law, which was endorsed by seven MPs, including Ghassan Moukheiber, who
presented the study to parliament. In 2008, former Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar introduced a
draft amendment to the law requiring the abolition of the death penalty, but the amendment has
yet to be put on the cabinets agenda.
On 22 September 2011, parliament approved a bill amending law No. 463/2002 on the
implementation of sentences, creating a formal status for those sentenced to death without being
executed. This amendment is a sign that the concept of punishment in the Lebanese penal
system has begun to evolve.
Indeed, although the amendment did not abolish the death penalty, it has enhanced the unofficial
position of the Lebanese authorities which, since 2005, has implemented a de facto moratorium
on carrying out death sentences. It would thus be correct to assume at present that the Lebanese
government is unofficially attempting to abolish the death penalty.