Manal Assi’s Husband And Killer: Beating Her To Death Was A ‘Crime Of Passion’

Yesterday, local network station MTV aired an episode of a show titled, hosted by Samir Youssef, giving Mohamad Nheily his first media appearance since he killed his wife.

Manal Assi died in February 2014 after Nheily beat her for over 6 hours and bashed her head with a pressure cooker. Tala and Sara, Manal’s two daughters, were home and witnessed the entire ordeal.


Assi’s mom weeping near a photo of her deceased daughter

Less than a month after Roula Yaacoub’s husband was found not guilty after beating her to death due to what the court deemed as “lack of evidence” comes another heartbreaking episode in the local handlings of victims of domestic violence and murder.

Yesterday, MTV gave the murderer a whopping 53 minutes to weep and dramatize over his wife’s death, allowing him the air time to make the argument that he was “blinded by rage” after allegedly discovering that she was cheating on him.



Nheily had previously admitted that he went to work after the gruesome murder, locking the doors and preventing any family members from helping Manal, or maybe even saving her life. He returned hours later and allowed an ambulance to take her then practically-dead body away. This is not the marking of a man who was overwhelmed by passion, this is a man who shows no remorse.

Nheily’s official sentence reads 18 years of prison time and hard labor — and a fantastic media appearance to boot.



This story, like many others, will undoubtedly die down once the media parade is over. It will die down and join the stories of Sara Al-Amine, Roqaya Monzer, Roula Yaacoub, and many other women who we have failed to protect, both as a government and as people.

How to get away with murder? Be a Lebanese man.