Lebanon’s parliament has abolished the death penalty, making it the first Arab country to replace executions with life imprisonment and aggravated hard labor.

The country had maintained an unofficial moratorium on executions since 2004, although courts continued issuing death sentences that were later suspended or reduced.

The measure was approved by a majority of lawmakers, with Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc voting against it.

Justice Minister Adel Nassar and human rights groups praised the decision as a historic step toward ending a cruel and irreversible punishment, the AP has reported.

However, questions remain about how the new hard-labor sentences will be enforced because Lebanon’s overcrowded prisons and limited resources have made such punishments difficult to implement.