Egypt executes man accused of murdering univ student who refused to marry him

Cairo: The Egyptian authorities on Wednesday executed a man after finding him guilty of killing a female student near Mansoura University in Dakahlia Governorate after she refused to marry him.

In June 2022, the video went viral where the accused Mohamed Adel can be seen attacking the 21-year-old Nayera Ashraf with a knife in front of several students and passers-by.

Adel was arrested in June 2022 and confessed to killing her. Two days later, the Mansoura Criminal Court sentenced him to death.

On February 9, the Egyptian Court of Cassation rejected the appeal submitted on behalf of Adel and upheld the death sentence issued against him by the Criminal Court.

The case received international attention and highlighted gender-based violence in Egypt.

Many women dropped out of Mansoura University fearing for their safety.

Two months after Ashraf’s murder, 22-year-old Salma Bahgat, a university student, was stabbed to death in Zagazig by a male colleague after she turned down his marriage proposal.

In October, Bahgat’s killer was sentenced to death.

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 (UN) survey conducted in 2015.

In February, the Edraak Foundation for Development and Equality released a report detailing the “notable rise” in gender-based violence in Egypt.

The report recorded 813 cases of violence against women and girls in 2021, compared to 415 crimes in 2020.