QATAR: MAN SENTENCED TO HANG FOR BEATING DEATH

a Sri Lankan was sentenced to death in Qatar for killing a man as he slept because of an old dispute. Ravi Naga Lingam repeatedly smashed fellow Sri Lankan Parthiban Rama Chandran over the head with a ceramic instrument and a bottle. He then locked the 22-year-old victim in his room and threw the key into a rubbish bin. The body was discovered some three days later. After the victim’s family refused the offer of blood money, Primary court Judge Mamon Hamour sentenced Lingam to death by hanging. The case is automatically lodged for appeal. Lingam carried out the savage attack on December 30, 2006 at the victim’s company accommodation in Doha’s Najma area. According to reports submitted before the court, ceramic shards were found embedded in the victim’s skull. The charge-sheet revealed that he died of multiple injuries. After his arrest, Lingam, 25, implicated a number of Chandran’s housemates in the murder, but later retracted the claim admitting he acted alone.