Fresh start

Lebanon’s parliament has adopted an amnesty law that should benefit thousands of prisoners who committed crimes before March this year and are facing long-term sentences. Murderers and traitors who endanger the state or commit major financial crimes are excluded. This reform had been demanded for decades by major political factions and could reduce sectarian tensions. Separate legislation was also passed to drop the death penalty, making Lebanon the first country in this region to enact such a law.

Amnesty has been used to reduce overcrowding in Lebanon’s 25 prisons and detention centres by releasing 2,000 of the current 8,400-8,500 inmates. The overall capacity of the prisons is 3,500 to 4,760 inmates. Between 80-83 per cent are awaiting trial, some for as long as 12 years. Syrians and Palestinians make up nearly 50 per cent of prisoners.

Critics complain the bill has been produced by bargaining among sectarian groups and maintains a system of impunity. The head of the non-governmental group Legal Agenda Nizar Saghieh said the bill allows “for each political group to take its share of the cake.” This practice was stipulated in the power-sharing system adopted by Lebanon at the time of independence from France in 1943. “Amnesty has become the principle and accountability the exception,” Saghieh told AFP, warning that vagueness on crimes included could prompt legal disputes.

Murder and “acts of terrorism” against civilians, soldiers, and Lebanon’s security forces will not be amnestied, but could lead to reduced sentences, which experts and lawmakers claim could benefit Sunni Muslim fundamentalists. Pro-bill deputy Imad al-Hout said the legislation cuts to 17 “prison years” sentences for those awarded the death penalty and life imprisonment. This amounts to 12 years and nine months of prison where a “prison year” is generally nine months. Al-Hout added that 79 fundamentalist detainees or convicts out of 146 were meant to be freed immediately. The law also calls for the release of inmates who have been detained for more than 12 prison years if the courts have not yet reached a verdict on their culpability.

Most of these prisoners come from northern Lebanon’s Sunni-majority city of Tripoli and are accused of attacking the Lebanese army, participating in clashes and preparing bombings.

Iran-backed Shia Hezbollah and Amal have also demanded amnesty for their fighters and communities. Thousands of families from the eastern Baalbek and Hermel regions, bastions of Hezbollah and its ally Amal, where illegal cannabis cultivation is widespread, have for years demanded amnesty for drug-related offenses and car thefts.

Maronite Christian parties, meanwhile, pushed for an amnesty law to include the families of those who joined an Israeli-backed group and fled to Israel after its withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000. These parties fear reprisals, particularly from Hezbollah and its allies.

The law excludes “crimes of treason, espionage, and illicit ties with” Israel, although it could benefit families of accused men of acting as Israeli “agents,” a reference to former Lebanese officers and members of the 2,500-strong Israel-founded mainly Christian South Lebanon Army (SLA). In 2000, they left south Lebanon with their families along with departing Israeli troops. An estimated 4,000 to 4,500 Lebanese citizens, including children and grandchildren of former SLA fighters, now dwell in Israel. Most, it is said, do not plan to return due to fear of imprisonment and Lebanon’s uncertain security and political situation. Before they do, they demand that the amnesty must explicitly cover SLA members.

Cases of Sunni Muslim detainees, particularly Ahmed al-Asir and his associates, were also among the issues threatening the legislation. Al-Asir, who emerged in the southern city of Sidon, adopted an anti-Hezbollah stand due to its support of the government of Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian civil war. The confrontation culminated in clashes with the Lebanese army at the Beirut suburb of Sabra in June 2013. Eighteen soldiers were killed and 100 others wounded as well as a number of militants. Al-Asir went into hiding until August 2015 when he was detained at Beirut’s international airport while attempting to flee the country using a forged identity document.

The law also excludes appropriation of public funds, corruption, illicit enrichment, financial and banking offenses. This law is required to restore Beirut to the position it held when its banks served as a regional banking sector until late 2019 when the collapse came. Due to overextension, mismanagement and corruption the Lebanese currency lost 98 per cent of its official value, and banks were rendered insolvent. The savings were trapped of millions of people, who can only withdraw every month fixed amounts limited to several hundred dollars.

Pressure for general amnesty grew after the fall in December 2024 of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad as Lebanon had jailed many over events linked to the 2011-2019 Syrian civil war.

Photo: AFP