(Credit: João Sousa)
A young woman in her thirties, Z.A.M., died on Saturday of a cerebral hemorrhage after being attacked in the hotel where she worked in Beirut, a security source confirmed to L'Orient-Le Jour. So far, no suspects have been arrested for what appears to be a femicide, i.e. the murder of a woman or girl because of her gender. The case is in the hands of the intelligence services, said the source.
The victim had been found unconscious in the hotel's warehouse on Caracas Street. “She had started work at 7 a.m., and the man [suspected of killing her] was waiting for her” at the scene, according to the security source. After being hit on the head, she was taken to the warehouse, where she was found before being hospitalized at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC), where she died of a cerebral hemorrhage, the source added. L'orient-Le Jour contacted the hotel in question, identified in the local press as the “Universel Residence,” but the person contacted refused to give any further details. The hospital was not immediately reachable either.
According to the media, the suspect is a Syrian employee of the hotel, but this was not confirmed by the security source contacted, who stated that “the investigation is still ongoing, we cannot confirm anything.”
While the media also reported that the victim had been raped, a member of the victim's family, contacted by telephone, denied this information, basing his opinion on the forensic doctor's report. “We have nothing more to say, we are waiting for the investigation,” he said.
The victim was buried on Sunday in Sir al-Gharbieh, her hometown in the southern Lebanese district of Nabatieh.
This article originally appeared in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.