LEBANON: JUSTICE MINISTRY CAMPAIGNS TO ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY

The Justice Ministry in Lebanon has launched a nationwide campaign this week to rally public support for seven draft amendments that are awaiting Cabinet approval, among them the controversial abolishment of the country’s death penalty.
Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar told The Daily Star that the amendments have been presented to the Cabinet and that the campaign has been started to put pressure on ministers to pass the reforms through to Parliament. 
The minister stressed in particular that the abolishment of the death penalty, the most contentious of the reform bills, should be implemented immediately in the interests of “more humane and more efficient justice.” 
Najjar is calling for revoking Penal Code articles that allow courts to issue death sentences, replacing them instead with a life sentence with hard labor.