Court of Cassation repeals decision in the case of Manal Assi

The case of Manal Assi who was murdered by her husband back in February, 2014 resurfaced after the Court of Cassation, led by Judge Suheir Harakeh, decided on Tuesday to repeal an early ruling by the Criminal Court of Beirut, under Judge Helena Iskandar, and repeat the trial setting a new date, December 1, for the hearing. To note, the Public Prosecutor Discriminatory, Judge Samir Hamud, has appealed on August 22 to the Court of Cassation to revoke the mitigating sentence from the death penalty to 5 years in prison against the perpetrator husband Mohammad Nuheili issued by Judge Iskandar on July 14. Hamud saw that the decision was a mistake in explaining and implementing Article 525 of the Penal Code, and called for criminalizing the husband in accordance to Article 549, Paragraph 4, which is the death sentence in the incidence of torture and cruelty. On the subject, the information officer at Kafa Enough Violence and Exploitation organization, Maya Ammar, pointed out to Al Akhbar newspaper that court decisions and judicial interpretations are  often influenced by the cultural background of the judge himself. Ammar was referring to Judge Iskandar whom she explained had overlooked the legal aspects involved in the case, which is quite appalling, when noting the contribution of the Judge in question to the drafting of the domestic violence related law. (Akhbar, October 21, 2016)

 

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Public Prosecutor appeals decision of mitigated sentence to killer of wife Manal Assi