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Amnesty passes, prisons crowded
Lebanon’s parliament passed a long-disputed General Amnesty Law on Wednesday, aiming to ease severe overcrowding in the country’s prisons by reducing or commuting the sentences of thousands of prisoners and detainees.
“Lebanon’s parliament passed the long-disputed General Amnesty Law on Wednesday”
The law came a day after lawmakers voted to formally abolish the death penalty, and it replaces death sentences with long prison terms while reducing life sentences and freeing some convicted militants and drug dealers.
The legislation excludes rape, trafficking, corruption, terror funding, and premeditated murder, while it reduces sentences for killing Lebanese troops, and it also excludes repeated drug offenses and people convicted of collaborating with Israel.
Lebanon’s Interior Ministry said that as of 2023, 80% of those detained in Lebanese prisons were awaiting trial, while Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces reported that detention centers across Lebanon had a capacity of 4,760 but held 8,502 prisoners, including 1,094 who had actually been sentenced.
In the aftermath of the vote, Sunni Lebanese Member of Parliament Walid Baarini described the law as a “national achievement” that he hoped “restores the meaning of justice.”
Boycotts, sectarian fault lines
The vote inflamed Lebanon’s longstanding sectarian divisions, with Islamist protesters taking to the streets and burning tires in protest over provisions that would exclude some prisoners from the amnesty.
The Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah deputies notably did not take part in the vote as a form of protest, and the Naharnet account said MPs from those blocs left the parliamentary session after Defense Minister Michel Menassa was not allowed to deliver a speech.
Defense Minister Michel Menassa complained on Thursday that the military had been prevented from speaking at the Parliament, while the Jerusalem Post said the Parliament spoke firmly against releasing those involved in the killing of military officials.
In parliament, Sunni legislators largely celebrated the law passing, and Bilal Abdullah of the Druze-led Progressive Socialist Party said the amnesty law is not intended to benefit just one sect, adding, “We are turning a political page where (Sunnis were) targeted, justly and unjustly.”
Critics and families of soldiers killed in clashes argued the law would grant undue leniency, and the Jerusalem Post reported that the altercation in 2013 left 29 dead in Sidon after members of the Lebanese Armed Forces were attacked by heavily armed terrorists loyal to Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir.
Who benefits, what changes next
The amnesty is expected to release some detainees immediately and reduce sentences for others, and Al Jazeera reported that the law reduced sentences of those facing death and life imprisonment to 17 “prison years,” equivalent to 12 years and nine months of actual imprisonment in Lebanon where a prison year is calculated as nine months.
“The law reduced the sentences of those facing death and life imprisonment to 17”
Al Jazeera also said the law calls for the release of inmates in ongoing trials who have been detained for more than 12 prison years without charges, while the Arab News account said judges must release detainees who have spent more than 14 prison years in custody without receiving a verdict.
Arab News further reported that once the law is published in the Official Gazette and enters into force, 79 Islamist detainees and more than 2,000 other prisoners and detainees are expected to be released, while it also said the legislation covers prisoners who completed their sentences but remained behind bars because they were unable to pay fines.
The law’s most contentious figure remains Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir, whose fate is described as unclear across outlets, with the Jerusalem Post saying he is currently being retried and his death sentence is excluded from immediate release expectations, while the National reported that Aya Hosseiny Al Assir said he “would not be released immediately.”
Beyond individual cases, the stakes include how the law reshapes criminal justice and accountability, with Al Jazeera Net’s lawyer Nizar Saghiyeh saying justice “comes through accountability and building institutions, not a general amnesty,” even as the National Human Rights Commission reported in 2025 that prisons had an overcrowding rate of 300 percent.
