Lebanon upholds death sentence for killer of British woman

BEIRUT (AP) — A Lebanese court has upheld the death sentence for an Uber driver convicted of killing a British woman who worked for the U.K. Embassy in Beirut five years ago. The British Embassy said in a statement on Friday that Lebanon’s Court of Cassation rejected an appeal by Tariq Houshieh and affirmed his conviction in the killing of Rebecca Dykes. Houshieh was sentenced to death in 2019, although there is a de facto moratorium on capital punishment in Lebanon, and no executions have been carried out since 2004. Dykes was found dead on Dec. 16, 2017, on the side of a road, strangled and showing signs of sexual assault.