An activist holds a banner during a march against domestic violence against women

An activist holds a banner during a march against domestic violence against women, marking International Women's Day in Beirut March 8, 2014. A Lebanese woman was bludgeoned to death by her husband with a pressure cooker last month, the latest in a series of highly publicised domestic violence cases in the country long regarded as the most progressive Arab state. The spate of highly publicised deaths has ignited popular outrage at the lack of legal protection for women in this small Mediterranean country of