Story By: James King, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash

This stunning Lebanese model has reportedly been strangled to death by her husband of six months after filing a complaint of domestic abuse against him and asking for a divorce.

The killing of model Zeina Kanjo, whose age was not given, has reignited debate in the country about the protection of women from domestic abuse after she was allegedly murdered by her husband at their home in the neighbourhood of Ain Al Mraiseh in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

After her body was discovered by her family who had not heard from her and went to check if she was okay, the police issued an arrest warrant for the husband, identified as Ibrahim Ghazal, as he was reportedly trying to leave the country.

The victim’s sister sent a message to a local TV channel after recording him saying: “What else should I have done after seeing her with someone else in my house?”

The murder of the model, who had won several beauty contests, is being investigated by the Lebanese police under the direction of the city’s chief prosecutor Ziad Abu Haidar.

News of her death at the hands of her husband, who she married just six months before, caused outrage in the country with the Institute of Progressive Women calling her death “another sad chapter in the ongoing scandal of domestic violence against women in Lebanon”.

They added that it has become unbearable for many women to live with their abusive partners in COVID-19 lockdown.

The investigation continues.

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