Lebanon abolishes death penalty in landmark parliament vote

BEIRUT -- Lebanon's parliament Tuesday abolished the death penalty, making it the first country in the Arab world to replace the sentencing with life imprisonment with aggravated hard labor.
A majority of Lebanon's 128-member parliament voted in favor of ending the death penalty, with the exception of the parliamentary bloc of Hezbollah.
The tiny Mediterranean country has committed to an unofficial moratorium on executions since January 2004. However, dozens of death sentences since then have been issued, but later suspended or commuted.
It's unclear how aggravated hard labor would be enforced, as some legislators said the terms of the new punishment are not yet clear. Lebanon does have the punishment of hard labor written into law and court decisions, but even those have been rarely enforced in recent years due to cash-strapped Lebanon's lack of resources and capacity within its overcrowded prisons.
Lebanon's abolition of the death penalty comes as parliament is debating a controversial general amnesty law that could reduce sentences or even release convicted militants and drug dealers, with some exceptions.
Hezbollah did not immediately issue a comment about the landmark vote. Neither did Lebanon's diverse religious institutions, where the death penalty is considered legal in some their respective court systems.