Security
02:24 PM | 10 Aug 2026
9 years after the crime... execution for the killer of Raya Al-Shidyaq
Fady Mahouly
The Criminal Court in the North, headed by Judge Rabie Al-Hasami and with the membership of the two advisors, Judges Ran Al-Hajj and Celine Al-Khoury, issued its final ruling in the murder of the young woman, Raya François Al-Chidiac, in her home in Miziara at the hands of the Syrian perpetrator, Basil Attia Al-Hamda, and imposed the most severe punishment on him, which is execution in person.
According to what the National News Agency reported, the court criminalized the accused Al-Hamda under Article 549 of the Penal Code, which stipulates premeditated murder, and under Articles 639, 640, and 201 (the crime of theft described), sentencing him to 15 years of hard labor. It also criminalized him under Article 503 (the act of rape) for ten years of hard labor. The penalties were combined in accordance with the text of Article 205 to be implemented against the perpetrator. The most severe penalty is death exclusively> The court also obligated Al-Attiya to pay personal compensation to the victim’s parents, François Jabour Al-Chidiac and Marie-Slim Dounia, in the amount of five billion LBP for each of them, and all of the convict’s requests were returned and all fees and expenses were reimbursed to him.
The crime occurred on September 22, 2017, when the perpetrator, who was working as a caretaker in the house of François Chidiac in Miziara, attempted to steal from the villa where he worked the day before the crime without success. He then repeated the attempt at 4:30 a.m. on September 22 of the aforementioned year, taking advantage of the victim’s presence alone in her parental home due to the absence of her family in their summer home. He asked her to guide him to the safe and opened it, and when she did not... He found what he was stealing, tied the victim with plastic ties, raped her, then held her breath with a bag that he tied around her neck, leaving her to breathe her last. He returned to his room after throwing the crime tools in the container opposite the house to act normally before he was arrested.