Barbed wire at one of the entrances leading to Place de l’Étoile, where the Parliament is located, on Aug. 11, 2026, in downtown Beirut. (Credit: Mohammad Yassine/L’Orient-Le Jour)
BEIRUT — Parliament convened Tuesday for a plenary session to debate several bills on the agenda, with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam in attendance.
L’Orient-Le Jour learned that the agenda was set in line with an agreement reached earlier this week between Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and a majority of Sunni MPs. The bill abolishing the death penalty tops the agenda, followed by the draft media law and the general amnesty bill.
Here’s what you need to know.
Abolition of the death penalty
Capital punishment remains legal, although no executions have been carried out since January 2004, amounting to a de facto moratorium of more than 22 years. Courts, however, can still issue death sentences.
The Lebanese Forces parliamentary bloc walking out of the July 16 session prevented Parliament from passing the general amnesty and death penalty abolition bills. This time, the death penalty bill is at the top of the agenda. Parliament on Tuesday adopted the bill, abolishing the death penalty and moving Lebanon from a de facto moratorium to the legal abolition of capital punishment. Lebanese courts will no longer be able to issue death sentences.
General amnesty
When Parliament met July 16, Sunni MPs divided over the scope of the proposed amnesty.
One camp pushed for the release of as many detainees as possible, including Islamist cleric Ahmad al-Assir, who has been imprisoned since 2015 for his role in the deadly 2013 violence between his supporters and the Lebanese Army in Abra. Most of these MPs boycotted the session.
Others, including Beirut MP Nabil Badr, Akkar MPs Walid Baarini and Bilal Hocheimi, pushed for the swift adoption of the amnesty bill and attended the session.
Badr told L’Orient-Le Jour several days ago that the bill should be easily adopted on Tuesday, particularly because its final version has the support of Sunni political figures. The Lebanese Forces have also said they support the Sunni blocs on the issue.
Media law
The draft media law, recently approved by joint parliamentary committees and placed on the plenary agenda, has drawn criticism from journalists and press freedom advocates.
The controversy centers on subsection B of Article 104, which would impose prison terms of up to three years for “disinformation and the spreading of false or harmful news,” with harsher penalties, including forced labor, possible in certain cases.
A source close to the journalists’ union told L’Orient-Le Jour that the provision could be interpreted broadly and potentially restrict press freedom.
Calls are growing to amend the changes to Article 104 introduced by the Administration and Justice Committee and later incorporated into the bill by the joint parliamentary committees.
Bank resolution
Amendments to last year’s bank resolution law are also on the agenda.
At the request of the International Monetary Fund, the government prepared a series of amendments and sent them to Parliament on May 12. The Finance and Budget Committee reviewed them during seven meetings between June 11 and Aug. 3, after which MPs substantially revised the text.
The revised version has raised concerns among several government officials, who claim some changes backed by committee Chairman Ibrahim Kanaan, Banque du Liban Gov. Karim Souhaid and a majority of committee members differ from the draft negotiated with the IMF.
They warn this could lead to a scenario similar to that of the banking secrecy law, which underwent several revisions between 2021 and 2025 to meet IMF requirements.
Public sector sit-ins
Meanwhile, public-sector unions gathered around 9 a.m. in downtown Beirut to protest the staggered payment of back wages.
Another sit-in, organized by the Defense Committee for Tenants’ Rights in Lebanon, was held to protest rent laws.
Israeli strike injures 4 in Nabatieh, rescuers targeted