Petition for cassation of mitigated sentence of killer of wife

Following the mitigated 5-year imprisonment sentence against the killer of wife Manal Assi pronounced on July 14 by the Criminal Court of Beirut led by Judge Helena Iskandar while charging the victim with responsibility for allegedly unlawful conduct towards her husband ( http://bit.ly/2amjtWE),  some 167 civil groups signed yesterday a petition to consider cassation and upgrading of the above decision. The request pressed by the Lebanese Council  of Women chaired by lawyer Ikbal Dughan, was filed to the Discriminatory and Appellate Public Prosecution to pressure to this effect. The signatories considered that the Judiciary has completely ridiculed the Lebanese Parliament’s decision to repeal Article 562 of the Penal Code related to so-called ‘honor killing’, while they were expecting the justice system to advocate the rights of victims against culprits. To recall, the Appellate and Discriminatory Offices have a period of one month to appeal the ruling of July 14, meaning that the civil groups have only 6 days including a weekend to convince the competent authorities. (As Safir, The Daily Star, August 9, 2016)