Raya and Sakina: Egypt’s First Notorious Female Serial Killers

In the sweltering alleys of early 20th-century Alexandria, a gruesome discovery shattered the city’s facade of bustling trade and colonial intrigue. Beneath the floorboards of a modest tenement house, police unearthed the remains of multiple women, their bodies hastily buried and stripped of valuables. This was no random act of violence but the handiwork of two sisters, Raya and Sakina Abd al-‘Al, who had turned their home into a chamber of horrors. Operating in the shadows of poverty and vice, these women became Egypt’s first documented female serial killers, claiming at least 17 lives between 1917 and 1920.

Born into hardship in the rural Nile Delta, Raya (born Rayya, around 1884) and Sakina (born Fatima, around 1887) embodied the struggles of women in a patriarchal society under British occupation. Drawn to Alexandria’s promise of opportunity, they descended into prostitution and crime, marrying petty criminals and establishing a boarding house that doubled as a brothel. Their murders were methodical: luring vulnerable women with promises of work or shelter, drugging them, robbing them of gold jewelry—a prized possession in Egyptian culture—and suffocating them to conceal their deeds. The case not only horrified Egypt but also ignited national debates on morality, poverty, and justice.

What sets Raya and Sakina apart is their partnership in evil, a rare instance of female siblings collaborating in serial murder. Their story, blending elements of desperation, greed, and cold calculation, offers a window into the underbelly of interwar Egypt. This article delves into their backgrounds, the chilling mechanics of their crimes, the investigation that brought them down, their trial, psychological insights, and enduring legacy.

Early Lives: From Rural Poverty to Urban Vice

Raya and Sakina were born in the village of Kafr Al-Shaykh in Egypt’s Nile Delta, to a family of modest means. Raya, the elder, was known for her sharp wit and domineering personality, while Sakina was quieter but equally resilient. Widowed young after their first husbands died, the sisters sought fortune in Alexandria, Egypt’s cosmopolitan port city under British control since 1882. There, they immersed themselves in the world of prostitution, a common survival strategy for impoverished women amid economic disparity and colonial exploitation.

In 1911, Raya married Hasaballah Imam, a butcher with a criminal record, and Sakina wed his brother Ibrahim—a tailor prone to violence. The couples settled in the Labban neighborhood, a labyrinth of tenements teeming with laborers, prostitutes, and transients. To supplement their income, the sisters opened a fanduq (cheap lodging house) at 12 Nabi Daniel Street, advertising rooms to single women seeking work. This unassuming building would become their killing ground.

Their descent was fueled by greed for gold shash (traditional jewelry worn by women), which held immense cultural and economic value. As Alexandria’s underworld offered little stability, the sisters and their husbands plotted to prey on the most vulnerable: rural women arriving alone, adorned with family heirlooms but lacking protection.

The Murders: A Pattern of Lure, Robbery, and Death

Between 1917 and 1920, Raya and Sakina executed a chilling routine. They posed as benevolent landladies, inviting women to stay overnight or audition for prostitution roles. Once isolated, the victims were plied with spiked tea or alcohol laced with sedatives. As they lost consciousness, the killers stripped them of jewelry—earrings, necklaces, bracelets—and suffocated them with pillows or cloths to avoid bloodstains and noise.

Bodies were concealed under the house’s lime-saturated floors, a rudimentary but effective method that preserved remains and deterred odors. The sisters divided the spoils, melting down gold or selling it discreetly. Their husbands provided muscle and alibis, though Raya and Sakina were the masterminds.

Key Victims and Timeline

Investigators later identified at least 17 victims, mostly young women from rural backgrounds. Notable cases include:

• 1920: Na’ima Al-Mahdi, a 20-year-old villager lured for lodging. Her body, found with skull fractures, was the first discovered.
• June 1919: Zahra, a prostitute acquaintance, killed after a dispute over clients.
• 1918: Fatima Al-Sayyida, whose gold hoard made her a prime target.
• A cluster in late 1919: Four women from the Delta, including sisters who traveled together, vanished after checking in.

These women represented the forgotten migrants of Egypt’s urbanization boom, their lives extinguished for trinkets worth mere pounds. The killers’ nonchalance was shocking; Raya reportedly boasted of her “trade,” while Sakina handled the burials.

Estimates suggest up to 22 murders, but confessions confirmed 17. The spree halted only when paranoia set in after a near-miss with a suspicious lodger.

The Investigation: Unearthing the House of Horrors

The breakthrough came on October 13, 1920, when neighbors reported foul smells from the Labban house. Police, led by Detective Ahmad Al-Sayyid, searched the premises amid rumors of missing women. Digging up the courtyard and rooms revealed seven decomposed bodies initially, wrapped in cloth and doused in lime.

Raya and Sakina were arrested alongside their husbands. Under interrogation, the sisters cracked, providing vivid confessions. Sakina detailed the suffocations, while Raya mapped body locations. Further excavations yielded 10 more corpses, including children of some victims. Recovered gold weighed over 10 kilograms, linking it to missing persons reports across Alexandria.

The investigation exposed a network: accomplices like Ali Al-Badri (a pimp) and laundryman Mahmud Rashwan were implicated. British authorities, overseeing Egypt’s protectorate, monitored closely, fearing unrest in the nationalist fervor of 1919’s revolution aftermath.

Forensic and Interrogation Breakthroughs

• Autopsies confirmed asphyxiation; no sexual assault, emphasizing robbery motive.
• Jewelry melted in Hasaballah’s shop matched victim descriptions.
• Sakina’s breakdown led to a full map of burial sites.

The case gripped Egypt, with newspapers like Al-Ahram publishing daily updates, dubbing it “The Crime of the Century.”

The Trial: Public Spectacle and Swift Justice

The trial began November 15, 1920, in Alexandria’s Mixed Tribunal, drawing thousands. Prosecutors presented confessions, forensics, and witness testimonies from terrified neighbors. Raya deflected blame onto her husband, claiming coercion, while Sakina wept, begging mercy.

Despite defenses invoking poverty and abuse, the court convicted all four principals of 17 murders on December 13, 1920. Appeals failed; on December 23, 1921, Raya, Sakina, Hasaballah, and Ibrahim were hanged publicly in Cairo’s Bab al-Zuwayla gate—a spectacle attended by 20,000. As Egypt’s first women executed, their deaths symbolized retributive justice.

Victim families received modest compensation, but the trial highlighted systemic failures: lax policing of migrant women and prostitution’s unchecked spread.

Psychological Profile: Greed, Control, and Sisterly Bond

Though modern forensics were absent, the case foreshadows serial killer typologies. Raya exhibited psychopathic traits: charm masking ruthlessness, lack of remorse, and thrill-seeking. Sakina appeared codependent, enabling her sister’s dominance in a “folie à deux” dynamic—shared delusion fueling their crimes.

Motivations blended opportunism with pathology. Poverty drove initial thefts, but escalation to murder suggests thrill and power, rare in female offenders who typically kill intimately (partners, children). Their brothel setting amplified victim access, mirroring cases like Aileen Wuornos but rooted in cultural jewelry obsession.

Experts later analyzed cultural factors: Ottoman-era norms devaluing women, British occupation’s economic strains, and Alexandria’s vice districts fostering predation.

Cultural Impact and Legacy

Raya and Sakina transcended crime, embedding in Egyptian lore. Folk songs vilified them (“Raya wa Sakina, killers of the night”), while 1953’s film Raya and Sakina (starring Nagwa Jibril) sensationalized their tale, spawning remakes. They symbolize female villainy, inspiring phrases like “Don’t go with Raya and Sakina.”

The case spurred reforms: better migrant protections, vice crackdowns, and public executions’ decline. In true crime annals, they represent Middle Eastern serialism’s dawn, predating global awareness. Victims’ stories, often overlooked, remind us of marginalized lives lost to unchecked greed.

Today, their house site is a nondescript lot, but memory endures in podcasts and books like The Sisters of Death (2005).

Conclusion

The saga of Raya and Sakina stands as a stark indictment of desperation’s dark turn, where two sisters forged a legacy of terror amid Egypt’s turbulent history. Seventeen women, chasing dreams in Alexandria’s glow, met oblivion under floorboards for gold that glittered briefly. Their capture and execution delivered justice, yet the case urges reflection on poverty’s toll and women’s overlooked perils. In true crime’s vast tapestry, Raya and Sakina remain a haunting caution: evil thrives not just in monsters, but in the mundane cracks of society.

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