Legal Study Warns: Criminalizing Self-Defense in Lebanon Strips Gov’t of Legitimacy

A detailed legal study* by former Lebanese minister Mustafa Bayram delivers a sweeping indictment of Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s government, concluding that its decision* to ban Hezbollah resistance group’s military activities violates the Lebanese constitution, international law, and the fundamental rights of peoples under occupation.

The research frames the controversy within core state theory, stressing that sovereignty “derives from the people, who are the source of all powers,” and that authorities merely act as agents bound by a mandate to protect them. It warns that any authority that fails in this duty, or even worse, prevents its people from defending themselves, “has violated the limits of its mandate and becomes subject to accountability.”

At the heart of the study is the argument that resistance against occupation is a pre-existing and inalienable right.

An earlier session by the Lebanese Government at Baabda Presidential Palace (August 2025).

Bayram writes that “human rights are viewed as pre-existing rights, even above constitutions and positive laws,” and include “the right of peoples to self-determination and legitimate self-defense against aggression and occupation.”

He adds that this principle is embedded in international conventions, the UN Charter, and explicitly reflected in Lebanon’s constitutional framework and legal tradition.

The study draws heavily on Lebanon’s constitutional trajectory, particularly the Taif Agreement and its incorporation into the 1990 constitutional amendments, which “clearly stipulated the right to use all means to expel the Israeli occupation.”

It further notes that successive governments since Taif consistently included the resistance in their ministerial statements, forming a “settled and continuous constitutional custom” that the current government has now broken.

In one of its sharpest critiques, the research accuses Salam’s government of criminalizing a fundamental right at the height of ongoing aggression.

“The most egregious violation,” it states, occurs when “the authority not only fails to fulfill its mandate but also strips the people of their right to defend themselves and criminalizes this right during actual aggression.” Such actions, it argues, “strike at the very foundation of the authority’s existence.”

The study goes further, stating that the government’s conduct amounts to submission to external pressure. It states that the authority “yields to the demands of foreign powers that explicitly prevent the arming of the army,” and in doing so, “abandons its land, its people, and its sovereignty.”

In a stark historical comparison, it likens this trajectory to “the actions of the Vichy government,” warning of a “historical disgrace” if such policies persist.

Bayram also criticizes the government’s handling of ceasefire arrangements and diplomacy, arguing that it failed to leverage legally binding agreements while instead offering unilateral concessions.

Mustafa Bayram, former Lebanese Minister of Labor between 2021 and 2025.

The ex-labor minister writes that the government “relinquished its clear rights under the ceasefire agreement” and issued decisions that “provided legal justifications for every crime committed by the enemy,” noting that Israeli actions now cite Lebanese government positions rather than international frameworks.

The research warns of dangerous internal repercussions, cautioning that these policies risk transforming “a clear conflict between an aggressor and an attacked nation into an internal conflict,” opening the door to “societal and existential dangers” and potential strife.

In his conclusion, Minister Bayram delivers a direct call for reversal of the policy, urging authorities to “retract their dangerous decisions that contradict the fabric of Lebanese society.”

He stresses that legitimacy is inseparable from protecting the people, adding: “This constitutes a deliberate abandonment of the very essence and nature of authority, which is derived from, for, and in the name of the people.”

Reaffirming commitment to the concept of the state, Bayram emphasizes that such a state “must be capable of safeguarding its sovereignty and practically protecting its people,” calling for national unity and a reorientation toward confronting what he describes as a “clear enemy,” rather than deepening internal divisions.

* The Lebanese Government on March 2 announced a “ban on Hezbollah’s military activities and restrict its role to the political sphere.”

Source: Al-Manar English Website