A court in Egypt has upheld the death sentence handed down to a man for the murder of a university student who rejected his marriage proposal after rejecting his appeal, following a case that sparked controversy in the African country.
Egypt’s Court of Cassation has rejected the appeal by the defense of the man, Mohamed Adel, against the July 2022 verdict, a decision against which no further appeal is possible, Egyptian daily ‘Al Ahram’ reported.
The man was convicted following a trial in which friends and colleagues of the victim, Nayera Ashraf, testified that the defendant harassed and threatened the victim after she rejected his marriage proposal, while Nayera’s family filed several complaints with the police against the defendant prior to the incident.
The case sparked a wave of condemnations due to the fact that the killer posted the video of the event on social media. In fact, an Egyptian court demanded that her execution be broadcast to serve as a deterrent to similar crimes in the future.
Fellow university student Salma Bahgat was also murdered last year in broad daylight at the entrance of a building in the city of Zagazig, capital of Sharqiya governorate, after she likewise rejected a marriage proposal from the man who subsequently killed her.
In January 2023, an Egyptian court sentenced to death another man who killed his former fiancée in October last year after she refused to marry him and broke off their engagement because of his “excessive jealousy” and “controlling attitude,” according to investigations.
Egypt, a country with a high level of sexual and gender-based violence cases, was the third highest executor of death sentences during 2021, according to data released by the non-governmental organization Amnesty International.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)