Berry convenes parliamentary committees to review media law, abolition of death penalty

BEIRUT — Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Tuesday called for a joint meeting of the parliamentary committees on Administration and Justice, Media and Telecommunications, and Human Rights, to be held Thursday, July 9, at 11 a.m.

Lawmakers will examine the ongoing review of the proposed media law, as well as a separate bill aimed at abolishing the death penalty in Lebanon.

The bill to abolish the death penalty, approved on June 2, would replace capital punishment with life imprisonment under what are described as "very strict" detention conditions.

Although the death penalty remains in force in Lebanon, no executions have been carried out since the early 2000s. The European Union had imposed a moratorium on executions in Lebanon, and the Lebanese state has complied with it. Since then, death sentences handed down by courts have been commuted to life imprisonment.