19/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - Breaking the moratorium in force since 1998, the Lebanese authorities proceeded on Saturday 17 January to the execution of three prisoners sentenced with the death penalty for murder. Beirut will therefore not have kept to the invitation of clemency given the day before by the Irish Presidency on behalf of the EU. In its press release, the Presidency expressed its "dismay" at the decision of the Lebanese authorities to carry out the executions and recalled that "the European Union is adamantly opposed to the use of the death penalty in all circumstances and as a priority seek its universal abolition". The press release also recalled that the "Union has conveyed … to the Lebanese authorities its support for the continuation of this moratorium and its belief that the Lebanese authorities should build on the moratorium and move toward the abolition of the death penalty".