Lebanon's parliament passed the General Amnesty Law on Wednesday, August 13, 2026, a measure intended to reduce sentences and release thousands of prisoners and pretrial detainees held in severely overcrowded facilities.
Lebanon's parliament passes General Amnesty Law to ease prison overcrowding
Lebanon's parliament passed the General Amnesty Law on Wednesday, August 13, 2026, a measure intended to reduce sentences and release thousands of prisoners and pretrial detainees held in severely overcrowded facilities.
The legislation excludes those convicted of terrorism offenses, collaboration with Israel, repeat drug offenses, premeditated murder, and rape. Those convicted of crimes outside those categories may still receive reduced sentences: life sentences will be served as 12 years, death sentences as 21 years, and all other terms as one third of the original duration.
Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah deputies did not participate in the vote as a form of protest, according to Lebanese media reports. Islamist protesters had taken to the streets and burned tires in the months preceding the vote, objecting to exclusion provisions that bar some prisoners from the amnesty.
A particular point of contention involves those detained in connection with the 2013 Abra clash in Sidon, a two-day battle in which members of the Lebanese Armed Forces were attacked by heavily armed individuals loyal to radical Sunni cleric Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir, leaving 29 people dead. Those convicted in that case fall under the terrorism exclusion.
As of 2023, 80 percent of those held in Lebanese prisons were awaiting trial, according to the Lebanese Interior Ministry. Detention centers across Lebanon held 8,502 prisoners against a stated capacity of 4,760, including 1,094 who had actually been sentenced, according to Lebanon's Internal Security Forces. The COVID-19 pandemic, Lebanon's economic difficulties, and war have severely disrupted the judicial process, leaving many detainees held longer than the sentence their alleged offense would carry.
The amnesty law passed one day after Lebanon abolished the death penalty, described in the source as a regional first. Assir, who had already been sentenced to death, is currently being retried. His daughter-in-law told The National that he is unlikely to be released immediately.
Sunni Lebanese Member of Parliament Walid Baarini described the law as a 'national achievement' that he hoped 'restores the meaning of justice.' A separate Sunni Lebanese MP said 79 Islamists would be released following the law's passage, according to L'Orient Today. Footage circulating online showed inmates at Roumieh prison celebrating the announcement.
- The source does not state the total number of prisoners or detainees expected to benefit from the amnesty.
- The source does not identify by name the Sunni Lebanese MP who stated that 79 Islamists would be released.
- The source does not state the final vote count by which the law passed.
- The source does not detail what specific provisions prompted the Free Patriotic Movement's objections, as distinct from Hezbollah's.
- The source does not state whether Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has signed the law into effect or what further steps are required for it to take force.
- The source does not provide updated prison population figures beyond the 2023 data cited.
Read the original at The Jerusalem Post