LEBANON: SYRIAN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN SAHEL ALMA CASE

The Syrian man convicted in the killing of a young woman at a monastery in the Kesrouan area last year was sentenced to death in Lebanon.
The Mount Lebanon Criminal Court headed by Judge Faysal Haydar issued the death sentence against Fathi Jabr al-Salateen, a Syrian national, for the premeditated murder, attempted rape, robbing as well as concealing of the body of Myriam al-Ashkar, 28.
Ashkar was found dead on Nov. 22, 2011 after relatives reported her missing a day earlier.
According to a copy of the court case, Salateen, who worked as a janitor at Our Lady of the Annunciation monastery in Sahel Alma, had tried to flirt with Ashkar after she stepped out of the monastery.
Ashkar refused Salateen’s advances and he then stabbed her, causing her to fall to the ground.
The Syrian stole several of Ashkar’s personal belongings, including jewelry she was wearing and a cell phone before he dragged the wounded woman into his residence where he tried to rape her.
After the attempted the rape, Salateen dragged the conscious Ashkar for a long distance before killing her by slashing her throat. Salateen, a former Syrian intelligence officer, dragged Ashkar’s dead body for a while longer before dumping it over a hill.
He then hid the stolen jewelry and his bloodied clothes in a garden near the monastery before police arrived at the scene.
Ashkar’s body was found bloodied and naked from the waist down in the outskirts of Sahel Alma after a day-long search and rescue operation.
Following a DNA test of two blood samples collected at the crime scene, the victim’s blood and the blood stains on the janitor’s pants matched.
Salateen confessed to the crime upon arrest. He was charged in November.
Judge Haydar also ordered Salateen to pay the victim's family LL400 million ($267,000) in compensation.