Najjar presents draft law to abolish death penalty
Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar presented a draft law to the Cabinet on Friday that would abolish the death penalty and replace it with life in prison at hard labor.
In a press release issued by the Justice Ministry”s media office, Najjar called for revoking the articles of the country”s criminal law which allowed courts to issue death sentences.
"Science has proved that there is no causal relationship between … crime and the presence or absence of the death penalty," Najjar said, adding that he hoped the draft law would be adopted by the Cabinet and sent to the Parliament "as soon as possible."
Najjar said that abolishing the death penalty was in line with religious and humanitarian values, as well as Lebanon”s own legal culture, and was supported by criminology studies, which, he said, revealed that "preventative measures were more effective than the death penalty in reducing crime."
Meanwhile, and on the occasion of the World and European Day against the Death Penalty, European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner said: "I am proud of the EU”s leading role in the international efforts to abolish the death penalty."
"Although over half the countries in the world have abolished the death penalty in law or practice, the global figures for its use remain much too high," Waldner said in statement distributed by the European Commission in Lebanon on Friday.
"I fully recognize the plight of victims of violent crime, but the death penalty is not the solution," she said. "On the contrary, it only serves to aggravate a culture of violence and retribution."
According to Waldner, the European Commission is determined to work toward the universal abolition of the death penalty through all available diplomatic channels and as a leading donor in this field.
A total of 137 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice:
l Nintey-two countries and territories have abolished the death penalty for all crimes (10 since 2005).
l Ten countries have abolished the death penalty for all but exceptional crimes such as wartime crimes.
l Thirty-five countries can be considered abolitionist in practice. They retain the death penalty in law but have not carried out any executions for the past 10 years or more and are believed to have a policy or established practice of not carrying out executions.
Figures of death penalty application around the world remain high. During 2007, at least 1,252 people were executed in 24 countries, and at least 3,347 people were sentenced to death in 51 countries. A total of 88 percent of all known executions took place in five countries: China, the United States, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
According to the EU, more than $20 million have been allocated to support civil society projects since 1994, aimed at raising public awareness through public education, outreach to influence public opinion, studies on how states” death penalty systems comply with international minimum standards, supporting strategies for replacing the death penalty and efforts for securing the access of death row inmates to appropriate levels of legal support.