For today’s Crime Story we head out of Europe to cover a case in Egypt. I never knew of this case until reading a great book called Lady Killers by Tori Telfer, and the story so interested me that I wanted to learn more. So, I decided to research the story. I think that is my purpose in this podcast: to pique (peak) your interest so that you can investigate further.
This one is tough to research as few English-language sources exist. Beyond language barriers, the events of our story happened over 100 years ago and a revolution in Egypt at the time likely overshadowed non-sensationalized reports on the case. Nevertheless, this interesting case needs to come to light and today we meet serial killers (yes—-you heard correct....s....killers) and our two killers are sisters!
As always let’s begin with talking about the legal system in Egypt. The judicial system in Egypt consists of both secular and religious courts. The system is based off of European courts, primarily France and it derives from Napoleonic Code. When this Crime Story takes place, WWI had just ended and Egyptians thought they would get their independence from Britain. Not so fast says Britain and when it did not happen revolution broke out, now known as the Egyptian Revolution. A new constitution got implemented in 1923 AND British troops did not leave Egypt until the 1950’s. Now that we have some legal and historical background let’s dive into the story of Egypt’s sister murderess.
Sister one, Raya, born in 1875 and Sakina, ten years younger grew up in an isolated village in Upper Egypt with neglectful and abusive parents. They grew up poor and their father eventually abandoned his family, leaving the two girls with a narcissistic mother and a work-shy older brother. The family moved often and wandered about Upper Egypt as the two girls sold roasted veggies on the streets and would occasionally find work waitressing. At times they would join their mother and commit robberies but this did not make ends meet and Sakina became a sex worker. Not clear if she met him on the job or not Sakina and a husband move to Tanta. They soon diverse and Sakina goes back to the sex trade. Sadly, she ends up in a hospital suffering from a vernal disease where she ends up meeting and marrying husband #2. They move to Alexandria, Egypt but soon divorce and soon thereafter Sakina marries husband #3. A few years later older sister Raya joins her sister in Alexandria and marries the brother of her 1st husband (common practice at the time) , a skilled hashish smuggler.
The two sisters and their husbands stood out in Alexandria, as they came from Upper Egypt, had an accent as well as a distinctly darker skin color. Known as Saidi’s both families faced disadvantages in Alexandria, and in typical “othering” fashion were “accused of moral failings”. Alexandria from ancient times a cosmopolitan, trade city possessed nearly 1/3 of its population from elsewhere so they did have other outsiders to commune with. The sisters settled in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Alexandria, known as al-Labban.
When World War I broke out Egypt experienced a deepening economic crisis and the two sisters and their husbands could not find work. War often creates opportunities and the British set up a camp in Alexandria. The sisters and their husbands move next to the camp and open up their new enterprise: a brothel to cater to young British soldiers away from home. Apparently, a market existed and money started pouring in. The sisters, the brains behind the enterprise, rented out rooms to the sex workers in exchange for half the pay they earned. Sex work did not violate the law and had been legal in Egypt since 1882 but had regulations that the two sisters did not feel the need to follow. Thus, their brothel, albeit highly profitable, was illegal and this created a problem for their sex workers, some of the highest paid woman at the time, and how to protect their money. They could not use banks and Egypt, remember, suffered from a poor economy. Instead the sex workers deposited their money in gold jewelry. The more money a gal made the thicker bands of necklaces and bracelets one would buy. The men wanted to sleep with women who had so much jewelry on that they would jangle. Not to over analyze too much but the more jewelry one wore seems to indicate the greater the risk of disease but apparently the British soldiers saw it differently.
Raya and Sakina did not like the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 when World War One came to an end. Their British clients returned home and by now the police had gotten wind of their unregulated illegal brothel and closed them down. The sisters simply moved the brothel to their home. But to make matters worse their husbands, who worked as camp laborers during the war, now longer had their job and now wanted to run the business. It seems that the sisters-maintained control of the business as they partnered up with their landlord. A café on the first floor and the sister’s in business on the second floor. The two businesswomen use the cafe to lure patrons upstairs. The jewelry continued to be an attraction and the sisters had to buy gold jewelry for their sex workers in order to attract customers. The two were widely known to not treat their workers very well and likely cheated them. They also had to deal with the neighborhood gang and gangsters, called fitiwwa, required payment for “protection.” Despite their well thought out business plan the brothel tanked as winds of change emerged in Alexandria and revolutionary fervor emerged. The sisters needed to adjust.
In 1920, neighbors of Raya and Sakina started noticing an insane amount on incense wafting from their home. It burned day and night, without fail. In December 1920, a foul odor that even incense could not hide spoiled the air. The police received complains about a heavy, foul, rotten smell coming for the sister’s home. At about the same time while reworking the neighborhood plumbing system a worker discovered two bodies. Also, around the same period of time police found human remains of the side of the road near the sister’s residence. Except for long-braided hair, the completely dismembered body could not be identified. Evidence remains unclear if police went to the sister’s home to investigate recently found bodies or because of complaints from neighbors, but upon arrival become overwhelmed by a strong smell of something rotting that the burning incense could not hide. Raya claimed that she wanted to rid the smell of brothel customers who drank and smoked inside her establishment. Officers noticed different coloring of the tiles on the floor and upon lifting them up discovered three bodies. It goes without saying that this led to arrests as well as searches of all previous places that Raya and Sakina had rented. Authorities found the remains of 17 women and the crime scenes involved four places in the Labban district of Alexandria.
So what happened? How did these 17 women die at the hands of Raya and Sakina? Are the 17 discovered the totality of victims? Given that it all happened during a world war and a revolution in a underdeveloped country we will likely never know the full extent. Sources state that Raya and Sakina wanted the gold worn by their sex workers. But not all of those killed worked in the sex trade and had just annoyed Raya in some way. One sex worker wore new gold and in an amount that Raya did not think she could afford. Had she cheated the sisters and taken more than she had earned? Another sex worked ended up dead for not saying goodbye to Raya. One victim, not a sex worker but a poultry saleswoman named Zannuba, and actually a friend of the sisters, came to collect a debt and ended up dead. Most of victims met the sisters in the marketplace and had gold on. The sisters simply wanted their gold.
Autopsies confirmed all the victims as female, between 20 to 50 years of age, and all died of asphyxiation. The sisters lured their victims to their home and poisoned them with wine to make the women dizzy and disoriented. Brutal yet efficient they used the disorientation to stuff a rag in the mouth and then would hold the legs and arms down while strangling life away. The sisters did not work alone and police arrested six people in connection to the 17 women. Raya and Sakina, their husbands, and two fitiwwa. But Raya and Sakina masterminded the crimes and this shocked Egyptians the most. Egyptian newspapers had their story and the sisters faces went on the front page and even illiterate people in Egypt knew of them. The story intersected crimes committed by “outsiders” from Upper Egypt and the press lumped all the victims in as sex workers. The topic spurred discussions on wavering moral values in Egypt. The press and crowds blamed the victims for their own deaths. Disgusting.
Raya and Sakina went on trail in May 1921. The prosecution had a star witness. Raya’s nine- year-old daughter, Badeia. She testified that she saw her family members suffocating women and burying them under the floor of the their houses. She also stated that the family would then carry on as though nothing happened. The prosecution asked for no mercy for Raya and Sakina, asking for the death penalty. According to Tori Telfer’s book the three day trail was “spotted with vague statements, inconsistencies, and sketchy behavior. The criminal’s statements were all over the place”. But after this odd trail, the court found all six of them guilty and handed down the death sentence for all of them. Raya and Sakina are the first women in modern Egypt sentenced to death. Women without mercy receive no mercy.
Egypt carried out the sentence on December 21, 1921 Dressed in red execution garments specially tailored for them, authorities led the sisters to receive justice. As they tied a rope around Sakina’s neck “I murdered, but it’s okay because I fooled the police. This is the place where strong people stand. I am a strong woman and I have done things even men can’t do”. How profound (eye roll). The press later called Sakina one of the craziest people to ever stand on the scaffold. The following day their husbands and the two fitiwwa were hanged. This case has often been compared to the case I covered last week, The Papin sisters due to similar upbringings, them being sisters and possibly the motive could have been a class struggle.
Sources: Lady Killers by Tori Telfer, egyptjustice.com, www.open.edu, haaretz.com, stepfeed.com, face2faceafrica.com
Bình luận