Amnesty Hails Absence of Executions in Lebanon but Says 8 Death Sentences Issued in 2011

Amnesty International said Tuesday that no executions were carried out in Lebanon in 2011 for the seventh consecutive year, but cited local organizations as saying that eight new death sentences were issued last year.

The London-based rights group said in its annual review of death sentences and executions worldwide that five of the eight sentences were issued against people tried in absentia.

“At least three death sentences were imposed in trials by a military court on persons charged with collaborating with Israel,” it said.

Under Lebanese law, executions require the approval of the president, the speaker and the prime minister.

Amnesty said that several local non-governmental organizations have called for the abolition of the death penalty, alleging that the Lebanese judicial system is defective and lacks independence.

At workshops on the occasion of the World Day Against the Death Penalty in October, the NGOs cited a survey showing 53 per cent of respondents in favor of abolition and 70 per cent saying they did not trust the judiciary.

Another NGO survey conducted in 2009 among lawmakers was reported to show that 74 per cent supported an “immediate or gradual abolition of the death penalty.”

A sharp rise in executions in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq pushed the known world total to at least 676 in 2011, the report said.

Globally, those executed had been killed by a number of methods: beheading, hanging, lethal injection and shooting.

Amnesty said China, Iran, Iraq, North Korea and Saudi Arabia were using "confessions" obtained through torture. And some countries -- Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Korea and Somalia -- held public executions.