LEBANON: NAJJAR PRESENTS DRAFT LAW TO ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY

October 10, 2008: Lebanese Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar presented a draft law to the Cabinet 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." (Sources: Daily Star, 11/10/2008)