Egyptian court calls for live TV execution of man who killed a woman for rejecting him
An Egyptian court has called for 21-year-old Nayera Ashraf’s murderer, Mohamed Adel (also 21 years old), to be executed on live TV for his crime, reports have alleged. Taking place in broad daylight, and with at least 13 witnesses, the student’s death occurred outside the University of Al Mansoura on 20 June 2022.
Alongside the testimony of shocked bystanders at the scene of the crime, security footage showed Ashraf being brutally beaten and stabbed several times—including in the neck and chest (where he slit her throat), Al Jazeera reported at the time. Ashraf tragically died on the spot as Adel was then apprehended by witnesses present at the scene.
According to reports of many local news channels—and noted in LBC—the intention behind the murder seem rooted in Ahsraf’s rejection of Adel’s advances. After allegedly refusing to marry him, the 21-year-old ‘ghosted’ the fellow student. Following this, her murderer began stalking Ashraf on Facebook and later decided to kill her.
Adel was later convicted of the crime and sentenced to death on 28 June at Mansoura Courthouse, The Independent reported. He pled guilty to the murder. It is also from the aforementioned court that calls to have his execution televised have arisen.
According to LBC, if the calls are approved, it will be Egypt’s first public execution since 1998. Back in 2020, Amnesty International cited a worrying rise in executions in the country—highlighting a deeply troubling human rights crisis.
Philip Luther, Amnesty Middle East and North Africa research and advocacy director, stated at the time: “The Egyptian authorities have embarked on a horrifying execution spree in recent months, putting scores of people to death, in some cases following grossly unfair mass trials.”
In the case of Adel, however, officials from the Mansoura Courthouse have alleged the punishment would act as a deterrent to prevent the further saturation of femicides in the country and the wider Arab world. Ashraf’s murder rocked Egypt in a similar way that the Sarah Everard case did in the UK, with public discourse on the fear of femicide and rejecting men bringing to light the fears of many Egyptian women.
In a written letter to Egypt’s parliament from Mansoura Courthouse, officials stated: “The broadcast, even if only part of the start of proceedings, could achieve the goal of deterrence, which was not achieved by broadcasting the sentencing itself.”
The method of execution is likely to be hanging, with Adel’s legal team still hoping to launch an appeal against the death penalty sentence, reports have suggested.
