Egypt: Man executed after being found guilty of femicide

A man was executed on Wednesday after being found guilty of killing a student who refused his advances, a killing that sparked outrage in Egypt, authorities said.

Egyptian prison authorities “have carried out the death sentence against Mohamed Adel,” they said, in a statement carried by state media.

He had been convicted in June 2022 for the “premeditated murder” of Nayera Achraf, who was studying at the same university as him, they said.

This highly publicized trial took place after the young student was stabbed to death in Mansoura, a city 130 kilometers north of Cairo.

His murder had been filmed and the video shared massively online.

The transmission of the trial

Shortly before his murder, Nayera Achraf said that he feared for his life and had filed a complaint with the authorities. During the trial, the prosecution had shown messages from Mohamed Adel, in which he threatened to “cut his throat”.

A very rare fact, the trial of Mohamed Adel had been filmed and broadcast live by certain media, with the idea, according to the court, of “dissuading the greatest number” of committing such a crime.

The case had sparked debate beyond Egypt because a few days after Nayera Achraf, a Jordanian student was shot dead in Amman, likely for the same reasons.

Then, in August, a journalism student was stabbed to death in Zagazig, 60km north of Cairo.

In a country where strict Islam has been gaining ground since the 1970s, a survey carried out by the United Nations in 2015 counted nearly eight million women victims of violence by a husband, a relative or a stranger in public space. .

Egypt carried out the fourth highest number of executions in the world in 2022, according to Amnesty International.