Egypt executes man over high-profile femicide
Wednesday June 14 2023
Police officers stand guard outside the defendant's box, as Egyptian Mohamed Adel attends his first trial session at the Mansoura courthouse, some 145km north of Egypt's capital, on June 26, 2022. PHOTO | AFP
Egypt on Wednesday executed a man sentenced to death for the murder of a fellow student who rejected his advances, authorities said in the culmination of a case that sparked outrage.
Prison authorities "carried out the death sentence issued against Mohamed Adel", who was found guilty last year of the "premeditated murder" of fellow student Nayera Ashraf, after he confessed to the crime in court.
Adel was sentenced in a highly publicised two-day trial in June last year, after a video went viral appearing to show Ashraf being stabbed outside her university in Mansoura, 150 kilometres (95 miles) north of Cairo.
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She had previously reported her fears of attack to the authorities, and prosecutors had said messages from the accused "threatening to cut her throat" were found on her phone.
A series of high-profile femicides in Egypt last year triggered widespread anger and fears of copycat crimes.
Some social media users called for the perpetrators to be sentenced to death, while others said men must "learn to take no for an answer".
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Murder is a capital offence in Egypt, which carried out the world's fourth highest number of executions last year, according to Amnesty International.
Patriarchal legislation and conservative interpretations of Islam have contributed to severely limiting women's rights.
Women report being targeted by routine violence with little legal redress.
Nearly eight million Egyptian women were victims of violence committed by their partners or relatives, or by strangers in public spaces, according to a United Nations survey conducted in 2015.