Lebanese MPs during a parliamentary session, in Beirut, on July 15, 2026. (Credit: Ali Fawaz/Lebanese Parliament)
BEIRUT — Parliament on Wednesday passed measures officially canceling the 2026 official exams, and bills related to compensation for victims of the recent Hezbollah-Israel wars, retirement schemes for Information Ministry employees and customs officers dismissed after abandoning their posts.
Several contentious proposals, including a general amnesty bill, a proposal to abolish the death penalty and a new information law, have yet to be debated. Parliament is scheduled to reconvene at 6 p.m., with another session set for Thursday.
Retirement scheme for Information Ministry contractors
Parliament approved a bill suspending legal, judicial and contractual deadlines, as well as amendments to legislation granting exemptions for people affected by the two recent wars between Hezbollah and Israel.
The bill regarding the 2026 official exams covers the four Lebanese baccalaureate tracks, technical education diplomas and the brevet. The vote followed nearly an hour of debate with Education Minister Rima Karameh as she defended her proposal to hold a makeup session for students who failed the first semester. The government had previously canceled the exams because of the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel.
Parliament also approved legislation allowing the reinstatement of customs police agents and noncommissioned officers who stopped reporting to work during Lebanon's economic crisis, when the collapse of the Lebanese lira sharply eroded their salaries. A key amendment removed provisions that would have stripped them of all employment rights before their dismissal.
Instead, the law grants them 50% of their financial entitlements, including unpaid wages and allowances. It also gives them three months to return to work before their dismissal is finalized.
Parliament also amended the consumer protection law by introducing an on-the-spot fine system alongside the existing criminal penalties.
The session was briefly suspended for about 10 minutes after a heated exchange among MPs following the adoption of a bill extending the retirement scheme to contracted Information Ministry employees.
MPs also referred to joint parliamentary committees a bill creating a Ministry of Technology and Artificial Intelligence to replace the current state ministry responsible for the issue. If approved, the ministry would oversee the digitization of public services, innovation, cybersecurity, and data protection.
Death penalty and general amnesty
The parliamentary agenda includes 44 bills and draft laws. Among the most closely watched is the controversial general amnesty bill, whose review was suspended in May. The proposal, which includes sentence reductions for certain offenses, remains under discussion.
Initially presented as a response to prison overcrowding, the bill remains highly divisive in Lebanon, where there is little political or sectarian consensus over who should qualify for amnesty.
Families of Islamist detainees in the predominantly Sunni city of Tripoli have long called for the measure, including for prisoners accused of attacks on the Lebanese Army and bombings. Families of detainees and fugitives from Baalbeck and Hermel hope it will cover drug production and trafficking offenses. Meanwhile, hundreds of mostly Christian families from southern Lebanon are seeking amnesty for relatives who served in the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army and fled to Israel after its withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000.
MPs have also yet to debate a bill abolishing the death penalty, which would replace capital punishment with life imprisonment under what the draft describes as "very strict" detention conditions. Although the death penalty remains legal in Lebanon, no executions have been carried out since the early 2000s. In practice, death sentences have been commuted to life imprisonment in line with the country's de facto moratorium on executions.
At the opening of Wednesday's session, Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan, who chairs the parliamentary Justice Committee, called for postponing debate on the proposal. He argued that "some are trying to link it to the general amnesty bill in order to block its passage," insisting that the measure is "purely legislative."
Also awaiting debate is a long-delayed draft information law, first introduced in 2010 and repeatedly revised in parliamentary committees. The proposal would establish an independent media authority to replace the National Audiovisual Council, regulate online news outlets, abolish prison sentences and preventive detention for journalists in most cases — except for offenses such as incitement to hatred — and replace the Publications Court with an independent civil court specializing in media cases.
