Lebanon-Executions sentences for 27 people 

BEIRUT, Lebanon  _ Human rights watchdog Amnesty International urged Lebanon's president Tuesday to commute death sentences imposed against 27 people.

<The finality and cruelty inherent in the death penalty render it incompatible with norms of modern day civilized behavior and an inappropriate and unacceptable response to crime,> an Amnesty statement said.

Lebanese authorities recently agreed to reactivate capital punishment following a five-year hiatus, opening the way for 27 convicted murderers to be executed by hanging or firing squad.

Most prominent among those facing death are civil servant Ahmed Mansour, convicted of killing eight colleagues in a shooting spree at a government building last year, and Badieh Hamadeh, convicted of shooting to death three soldiers trying to arrest him in south Lebanon, also last year.

The execution orders still have to be signed by President Emile Lahoud. Justice Minister Bahij Tabbara said this week that it had not yet been decided whether the execution orders would be implemented.

Amnesty, in its statement, urged Lahoud to use his prerogative to immediately commute the death sentences.

Since Lebanon reinstated the death penalty in 1994, 14 people have been executed, with the last in 1988. After that, executions were postponed indefinitely because then-Prime Minister Salim Hoss refused to sign the death orders, saying it was contrary to his convictions.

Under Lebanon's constitution, a death sentence must be approved by both the  president and prime minister.