7.1.2. Honour crimes

7.1.2. Honour crimes

Article 562 of the Penal Code, which had explicitly granted reduced sentences for killings committed in the name of family honour, was repealed in 2011.546 Despite this reform, perpetrators continue to benefit from general mitigating provisions, such as claims of having acted in a ‘fit of rage’, which are frequently invoked to reduce sentences in cases involving the killing of women.547

In December 2024, the former Minister of State for Economic Empowerment of Women and Youth described the persistence of honour killings as a particularly disturbing aspect of femicide in Lebanon.548

A 2023 article published by the American University of Beirut (AUB) described honour killings as a widespread phenomenon, noting that many women had lost their lives for perceived violations of social or community norms, such as immodest dress, relationships outside marriage, or premarital sex. State action to address the issue was said to have been limited, leaving many women fearful of being killed by their own families. The lack of effective legal protection and a judicial system often viewed as biased against women were identified as factors enabling impunity, as perpetrators frequently claimed they acted to preserve family honour. Although honour killings are criminalised, they were still reported to occur, particularly in rural regions.549 Director of the Institute for Migration Studies at the Lebanese American University, Jasmin Lilian Diab reported in 2025 that rural areas such as the Bekaa Valley, Akkar, and South Lebanon saw higher incidences of honour-based violence.550 According to Equality Now, civil society actors observed that the persistent association of women’s chastity with so-called family honour had frequently resulted in acts of ‘honour’-related violence against survivors of sexual assault, including instances where the perpetrator was a relative. Female survivors of rape had reportedly been killed by their own families to ‘restore’ family reputation or, if spared, subjected to severe abuse by fathers, brothers, or husbands. In certain cases, they had been coerced into marriage with the rapist. Women who had lost their virginity through rape had otherwise been regarded as unsuitable for marriage.551

In August 2025, local media reported two cases described as honour crimes: one in Damour (a town in North Lebanon), where a man killed another man accused of drugging and raping the offender’s sister,552 and another in North Lebanon, where a man admitted to killing his sister with the knowledge of their father.553