Lebanon - July 2025

On 31 July, Parliament approved a judicial reform bill aimed at improving the independence of the judiciary. A key provision aims to reduce the executive’s role in the Higher Judicial Council (HJC), the body overseeing the judiciary, by lowering its share of the appointments from eight to four of the ten members, with the remaining six selected from within the judiciary (four elected by judges and two appointed by the sitting council). The law also introduces four-year terms for judicial posts (during which they may not be reassigned without their consent), but judges may not serve more than five years in the same position. While rights and civil society organizations acknowledged the reforms as a step forward, they expressed concern about provisions allowing the executive-appointed Chief Public Prosecutor to instruct lower-ranking prosecutors to halt cases, as well as rules requiring seven of the ten HJC members to approve judicial appointments in the event of executive deadlock.

Sources: L’Orient Today (1), Human Rights Watch, L’Orient Today (2), The Legal Agenda, Legal Agenda Parliamentary Observatory