The lawyer of Manal Assi, who was tortured and beaten to death by her husband, announced Thursday that the General Prosecution of Appeal in Beirut brought before the Court of Cassation the ruling that was issued by Beirut’s Criminal Court and referred it to the Criminal Court of Cassation, presided by Judge Ziad Abou Haidar.
The Judge presiding over Beirut’s Criminal Court, Helene Iskandar, granted the killer a mitigating excuse and reduced his sentence from death penalty to five years in prison, including the period of his detention.
Lebanese citizen Manal Assi, 33, was one of the victims of domestic violence.
She was cruelly tortured by her husband for more than 2 hours before he took her to al-Makased Hospital where she died of her wounds on February 5, 2014.
Two months later, an indictment was issued against her husband Mohammad Nouheili, convicting him of murder, and sentencing him to death in accordance with the article 549 of the Penal Code.
The said article stipulates that intentional murder shall be punished by death penalty.