Court Calls For Live TV Execution Of Murderer Who Stabbed Classmate For Rejecting Him

A murderer in Egypt who stabbed his classmate for rejecting his marriage proposal has been sentenced to death. The court that sentenced the killer has called for a live TV broadcast of the hanging, saying the punishment would help to achieve deterrence.

Mohamed Adel, 21, was sentenced to death after he pleaded guilty to brutally stabbing his classmate, Naira Ashraf, outside the Mansoura University in northern Egypt on June 20.

Adel repeatedly stabbed the victim, jumped on her, and slit her throat in broad daylight as she stepped off a bus outside the university when she came to attend her final exams. Ashraf died instantly, and the onlookers seized Adel, who attempted to flee, News.com.au reported.

The horrific attack was caught on CCTV. An investigation revealed that Adel stalked the victim on Facebook and plotted to murder her after she refused his marriage proposal.

Meanwhile, Mansoura Courthouse, which handed out the sentencing said it is keen on publicly executing Adel as it would send a message to others, deterring them from committing such crimes.

"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," Mansoura Courthouse wrote in a letter to the parliament.

The sentencing was made public on July 24, and is awaiting approval of Egypt’s "Grand Mufti," Dr. Shawki Allam, news outlet LBC reported.

Adel, however, would be appealing against the sentencing, according to reports. "We still have 60 days to challenge the death sentence against Adel," Adel's lawyer Farid El-Deeb said.

Egypt has one of the highest rates of executions, and the method of capital punishment for civilian convictions is hanging. It is estimated that at least 103 convicts were executed in the country between 2016 to 2018.

The last time Egypt witnessed a public execution was in 1998, during which three men were hanged to death after they were found guilty of killing a woman and her two children at their home in the capital, Cairo.