BEIRUT: A Lebanese judge has ordered the trial of a man suspected of the December murder of Rebecca Dykes, a British woman who worked at the British embassy in Beirut, court documents showed on Thursday.
Hanna Braidi, investigative judge for the Mount Lebanon district where the crime occurred, released a charge sheet for Tariq Houshieh, an Uber driver accused of raping and killing Dykes in the early hours of Dec. 16.
The charge sheet said Houshieh had confessed to raping and strangling Dykes, who was 30 and worked at the embassy for Britain’s Department for International Development.
Braidi called for Houshieh to face the death penalty. Lebanese investigative judges routinely call for death sentences in cases of murder, but the country has an unofficial moratorium and has not carried one out since 2004, according to the monitoring group Human Rights Watch.
A memorial service for Dykes was held in Beirut on Wednesday. Britain will award a scholarship under Dykes’ name each year to a Lebanese or Palestinian woman for a masters degree in Britain, the British embassy said.
Her family has set up a charitable foundation to help refugees, with a particular focus on preventing violence against women.
Lebanon to put taxi driver on trial in murder of British woman
Lebanon to put taxi driver on trial in murder of British woman
Morocco’s energy ministry puts gas pipeline project on hold
- The country’s natural gas demand is expected to rise to 8 billion cubic meters in 2027 from around 1 bcm currently, according to ministry estimates
RABAT: Morocco’s energy ministry said on Monday it has paused a tender launched last month for a gas pipeline project, without giving details on the reasons for the suspension.
The tender sought bids to build a pipeline linking a future gas terminal at the Nador West Med port on the Mediterranean to an existing pipeline that allows Morocco to import LNG through Spanish terminals and supply two power plants.
It also covered a section that would connect the existing pipeline to industrial zones on the Atlantic in Mohammedia and Kenitra.
“Due to new parameters and assumptions related to this project... the ministry of energy transition and sustainable development is postponing the receipt of applications and the opening of bids received as of today,” the ministry said in a statement.
Morocco is looking to expand its use of natural gas to diversify away from coal as it also accelerates its renewable energy plan, which aims for renewables to account for 52 percent of installed capacity by 2030, up from 45 percent now.
The country’s natural gas demand is expected to rise to 8 billion cubic meters in 2027 from around 1 bcm currently, according to ministry estimates.
