On August 11, the Lebanese parliament voted to do away with the death penalty. With the landmark decision, Lebanon has become the first country in the West Asia to abolish the death penalty. The country has replaced the capital punishment with life imprisonment and aggravated hard labour. Commending the decision, the European Union called the legislation a landmark move and said the country was setting an example for other countries in the region.
With this reform, Lebanon also seeks to get more fugitives extradited from abroad. Lebanese Justice Minister Adel Nassar said the change would remove a legal obstacle that had prevented some countries that have abolished capital punishment from extraditing fugitives wanted by Lebanon. He added that such countries could no longer cite the existence of the death penalty in Lebanon as a reason for refusing to extradite suspects to the country.
Lebanon’s decision stands out as much of West Asia and North Africa continues to retain and use the death penalty. As per an Amnesty International report, seven countries– Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, carried out executions in 2025. The region recorded at least 2,611 executions in 2025. Iran alone recorded at least 2,159 executions in 2025; and Saudi Arabia recorded 356 executions.
Iran and Saudi Arabia recorded the highest numbers of executions in the region. Jordan had, since 2017, observed a de facto moratorium. But executions resumed on June 21, 2026, when six people were executed by hanging. In May 2026, a law allowing the death penalty for certain offences classified as terrorist acts took effect in the occupied West Bank under Israeli military jurisdiction. The move drew criticism from several Arab and Muslim countries.
Towards the end of 2025, according to Amnesty International, 145 countries had abolished the death penalty either in law or in practice. Of these, 113 had abolished it completely for all crimes, nine countries abolished for ordinary crime, and the remaining 23 countries did not carry out any capital punishments in the last 10 years. One significant development is – the number of executions has significantly gone up in 2025. At least 2,707 executions were carried out in 17 countries including Afghanistan, Kuwait, Egypt, Iran and Iraq and North Korea.
This records a 78 per cent increase in executions from 2024. It is also the highest annual figure recorded by the organisation since 1981. The methods of execution vary from using hanging, lethal injection, shooting, beheading and nitrogen gas asphyxiation, among other methods. The figure excludes China, where executions are classified as a state secret. Belarus remains the only country in Europe that retains the death penalty.
At around the same time, on August 18, the Indian Supreme Court dismissed a petition challenging hanging as the method of execution. A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta dismissed a Public Interest Litigation that argued that hanging was scientifically unreliable and violated the right to a dignified death under Article 21 of the Indian constitution. The petitioner Rishi Malhotra sought alternatives including lethal injection, shooting and electrocution. The court declined to strike down as it requires amendment of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). The court suggested that the Centre could explore alternative methods of execution if compelling scientific, medical or empirical evidence emerged.
Under Indian law, hanging is the only statutory method prescribed for executing death sentences in ordinary criminal cases. According to Section 393(5) of the BNSS, a death sentence shall direct that the person “be hanged by the neck till he is dead.” Only the military law allows two methods – death by hanging and shooting. Despite legal acceptance, India has seen fewer instances of the death penalty, in comparison with several countries in the Middle East. According to Amnesty International, India recorded 128 new death sentences in 2025, but no executions were recorded during the year.
