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CDM reported earlier this year on the general amnesty law being pushed through the Lebanese parliament that would free Islamists detained after criminal acts perpetrated years ago against Lebanese military and others.
The Free Patriotic Movement of Gebran Bassil, one of the largest Christian political parties in Lebanon, had demanded the abolition of the general amnesty law but the Constitutional Council unanimously declined the request of the FPM on Monday, with binding interpretive reservations. According to a post by Bassil on X, the council’s ruling and the FPM’s challenge succeeded in limiting the disaster of the general amnesty, and Lebanon gained justice, albeit incomplete.
The new law was passed as part of a reported prison crisis in Lebanon. The country’s prisons were hosting 6,268 inmates at the end of March, according to the prisons directorate, as reported by Arab News. The National Human Rights Commission has criticized overcrowding of some 300 percent. A large portion of the country’s prisoners have never received a final verdict, as trials in Lebanon are known to drag on for years. Parliament passed the amnesty on August 12 after months of debate, and pushback from the FPM.
Many believe the lack of prosecution is intentional, with the intent of letting Islamists out of prison eventually.
The vote to pass the law saw Sunni MPs generally support the release of Islamist detainees. However, lawmakers from the Free Patriotic Movement were not present in parliament to vote on the measure. The families of Lebanese soldiers killed by militants have also been expressing anger at the law, saying it is too soft on militants who have attacked the army. In terms of the Christian vote, CDM reported on August 25 that Lebanon’s largest Christian party, the Lebanese Forces, voted with the Sunni MPs in favor of the law. The more nationalist and populist Christian party, the Free Patriotic Movement, however was not part of the vote. According to CDM, the law is expected to release 79 Islamist detainees at once. However, the opposition has stated that several exclusions to the law, including those related to terrorism with premeditation, are not being implemented.
The anger carried over outside parliament. An FPM source told CDM that in twelve years the state could not finish trials stemming from the 2014 battle of Arsal, yet it finished the amnesty law in under an hour. CDM reported that opposition activists circulated flyers naming the MPs who voted for the law, that a Lebanese Forces MP then filed a lawsuit, and that some FPM members were detained. Opposition to the law has been voiced by some Christian parties and activists, who fear that the releases of Islamist detainees, including militants who attacked the Lebanese army years ago, could spark sectarian strife, especially in light of more than two million Syrian refugees, mostly Sunni, who are in Lebanon and are perceived by some to be meant to decrease Christian influence in the country’s politics.
The law to grant an amnesty to all those who have committed offenses prior to March 1, 2026 was passed by the Lebanese Parliament in mid-August and signed by President Joseph Aoun in early September. According to the terms of the law as reported by Arab News, death penalties are to be commuted into detention for 28 years while life sentences with hard labor are to be reduced to 17 years of prison. All other sentences are to be reduced by one third and people who have been detained for more than 12 years for offenses for which they have not yet been tried can be released while their cases are still being tried.
Much of the fight is over who benefits. MP Imad al-Hout told Annahar that out of 146 Islamist detainees in Lebanese prisons, 79 will be released. MP Nabil Badr told Annahar that he will work to reduce the life sentence of Sheikh Ahmad al-Asir, a Salafi preacher. Critics, including families of Lebanese Army personnel, told Arab News the law reflected a political and sectarian deal.
The comments of the FPM leader also refer to the judicial interpretation by the Constitutional Council of the law of the general amnesty. The Kataeb news website writes that all corruption offenses, including financial corruption, as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as torture, enforced disappearance and document forgery have been excluded from the general amnesty law. The Kataeb site added that the council confirmed March 1, 2026 as the cutoff date. Bassil said that the challenge of his party has also succeeded in excluding financial corruption, in protecting the rights of victims of crimes and the families of army martyrs.
For now the amnesty law shall be put into practice while its scope is to be determined in actual application by the courts and the country’s security apparatus. The FPM’s challenge did not stop the law, but it narrowed it, and the sectarian bargaining behind it is still unsettled.
