Egyptian duo serial killers, Raya and Sakina (1919–1921)
Raya and Sakina () were two Egyptian women who were Egypt's most infamous serial killers. Raya and Sakina were siblings. They, their husbands, and two other men began killing 17 women in the Labban neighborhood of Alexandria in 1919. The police were plagued by increasing reports of missing women. Not only were the missing persons all females, they were known to be wearing gold jewelry and carrying large amounts of money. Another common detail was that many of the missing women were last seen with either one or both of the two sisters. Sakina was questioned several times because of the reports, but she managed to dodge any suspicions about her involvement.
Background.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Egyptian economy was at a low point due to World War I. Raya and Sakina's husbands lost their jobs in the cotton industry, and the two couples were becoming increasingly reliant on the brothels that they were running. However, business had begun to dwindle after the war, so they adopted a new business model where they employed poor teenage girls as workers for work that is not for their age. This then positioned the other independent workers as the competition, which led the gang of Raya, Sakina, their husbands, and two other men to kill them.
In November of 1920, the remains of a dead woman was found underneath a house in Alexandria while installing running water. This house had been previously rented by Sakina, which prompted the police's suspicion and all of Raya and Sakina's houses were investigated. This resulted in the discoveries of seventeen total dead women. Many of these women were tied to the large amount of missing person reports that the police had been receiving.
These findings provided the only evidence regarding the murders in the Labban neighbourhood. After investigation, it was found that Raya and Sakina had been renting a home beside El Labban police department, where the bodies were buried, at the time when the women and girls disappeared.
Raya, Sakina and their husbands were tried for murder. All four were convicted and were sentenced to death on 16 May 1921. Raya and Sakina became the first women to be executed by the modern state of Egypt.
Crimes.
The six criminals were Raya and her husband Hasb-Allah, Sakina and her husband Mohamed Abd El-'Al, in addition to two other men Orabi Hassan, and Abd El-Razik Yossef. Between 20 December 1919 and 12 November 1920, the gang murdered 17 women. The victims were prostitutes who used to work in the brothel that was managed by Raya and Sakina. After luring a victim to one of the four homes, they would offer her wine and liquor until she became inebriated. The four men would then attack the victim and constrain her movement. They held down the victim and them suffocated her by placing a wet cloth over her mouth. They would then steal her jewelry, money, and clothes. Afterwards, the men would remove the tiles of the floor, dig a hole, bury the corpse in it, and reset the tiles.
The two sisters sold the stolen jewelry to a local jeweler, Ali Hasan, and divided the money among the six criminals.
Crime scenes.
Four homes where the crimes had been committed were all located near Mansheya Square. Most of the victims came from this area.
The addresses of the homes:
Raya and Sakina in the media.
Inspired by the story of the Raya and Sakina, many books and works of art have been published.
References.
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