The funeral of a woman and her three daughters murdered in southern Lebanon took place on March 27. (Credit: Mountasser Abdallah/L'Orient Today)
BEIRUT — Residents of Ansar village, South Lebanon, held a sit-in Tuesday in front of the courthouse in Beirut as the interrogation of two men suspected of being involved in the murder of a woman, Bassima Abbas, and her three daughters aged 16 to 22, in late March, commenced, the state-run National News Agency reported.
Here’s what we know:
• According to the NNA, protesters called for the two suspects, Hussein F. and Hassan Gh., who were questioned by the first investigating judge in Beirut, Charbel Abu Samra, to be sentenced to death.
• After disappearing for 25 days, the lifeless bodies of Bassima Abbas and her daughters Rima, Tala and Mana, were found in a cave in an orchard. The alleged murderer, Hussein F., 36, admitted to abducting and killing the four women with a Syrian accomplice, according to our correspondent in the region Mountasser Abdallah. The motive for this inexplicable tragedy that shook the country remains unknown.
• Since 2004, there has been a moratorium on the application of the death penalty in Lebanon.
• Lebanon has been hit by a spate of crimes and domestic violence targeting women since the onset of the economic crisis in 2019 and the arrival of COVID-19.