Lebanon sentences UK diplomat's murderer to death

A Lebanese court on Friday sentenced a taxi driver to death for the 2017 murder of British embassy worker Rebecca Dykes, the national news agency reported. The Mount Lebanon criminal court sentenced the accused to death for the rape and murder of the young British woman, the agency said, naming the killer as Tariq Samer Howeish. The 30-year-old's lifeless body was found dumped on the side of a road north of Beirut in December 2017.

The driver employed by ride-hailing giant Uber was reported by judicial sources at the time as having been arrested twice prior to the murder for alleged harassment and theft. Capital punishment is legal in Lebanon although no execution has been carried out in 15 years.