Egypt discusses femicide and women’s rights

Basma still can’t believe it. It’s been ten days since the shocking murder of a fellow student at Egyptian Mansoura University, and the crime took place not far from the campus. “I’m still scared and haven’t left my apartment since,” said the 27-year-old, who prefers not to see her full name published.

On June 20, 21-year-old student Naira A. was killed – by a man. The reason: she had rejected his marriage proposal. Surveillance cameras and several cell phone videos from at least a dozen witnesses captured the crime and show how 27-year-old Mohamed A. stabbed Naira A. with a knife, in broad daylight. Only when passers-by intervened did he let go of her. When the police came, he was arrested.

Violence against women has been increasing since 2021

The court found him guilty of first degree murder and sentenced him to death. Now the case has been referred to the Grand Mufti, Egypt’s most important theological institution. He must now decide how to proceed with the execution of the death penalty in the coming days. The probability that the verdict will be confirmed is high, because Mohamed A. has already confessed and given the fact of the rejected marriage proposal as a motive.

The case has thrown Egypt into an uproar. On social media, users are calling for “justice” and mourning cases of femicide, i.e. the murder of women, in different parts of the Middle East. The Mansoura act draws attention to the rising number of homicides and other acts of violence against women. Habiba Abdelaal, an expert on women’s rights, says in an interview with DW: “The harassment of women in public spaces has been an issue in recent years, but what happens at home remains largely hidden from the general public, and the police and politicians are getting on with it not on that.” A February 2022 report by Egypt’s Edraak Foundation for Development and Equality underlines this. The report shows that there has been a “remarkable increase” in gender-based violence in Egypt over the past year, with 831 cases affecting women and girls . This compares to 415 cases in 2020.

Similar act also in Jordan

Abdelaal says: “Violence against women is an endemic disease in the Middle East and Egypt.” It is clear to them that the killing of Naira A. did not come out of nowhere. “It was neither the first nor the last case.” What is striking, however, is that the act is still the focus of public debate more than ten days later.

This is also due to the fact that a similar act took place in Jordan a few days later: the Jordanian nursing student Iman R. was shot by a man near the capital Amman. The deed happened at her university, and here, too, a rejected marriage proposal had apparently preceded it.

A striking resemblance to the case in Cairo, with the difference that the suspected killer of Iman R. managed to escape and later took his own life. Further details are not known, since the Jordanian authorities do not want to say anything more about the crime. “Such cases are facilitated by a climate in which women are disparaged and bullied and there is a general perception that men are always right,” says Ghada Saba, a Jordanian filmmaker. But maybe that’s why a debate has broken out in social media about women’s rights and free choice of partner.

“Safety is a fundamental right”

Abdelaal is also certain that the discussion shows one thing: “Not only do we not have enough legal powers, but we also live in a society in which there is a constant perpetrator-victim reversal. Especially when the victim is a woman. Some comments on Naira A’s death show that”.

Azza Soliman, a lawyer and founder of the “Centre for Legal Advice for Egyptian Women,” takes a similar view. It’s becoming increasingly clear how much the public “defames” women, she told DW. She fears that violence against women could be considered normal as a result.

Egyptian women’s activist Lobna Darwish also sees a certain social awakening in the debate that followed Naira A’s death. But she doesn’t believe that anything will be done about violence against women in Egypt any time soon. Darwish told DW that it would not be possible to make it clear that security and protection from violence are fundamental rights for women and that these fundamental rights should not be questioned either outside or within one’s own four walls.

In the case of Naira A., for example, she points out that the family had previously tried three times to obtain a restraining order against her daughter’s stalker and later murderer, each time to no avail. “So she tried to take legal action, she was at the police station. There’s a record of her trying to get a restraining order, but it just didn’t get that far,” explains Darwish. “It’s kind of sad that a video of a woman being murdered in broad daylight has to go viral before anything happens.”

Women’s rights activists across the Middle East are calling for a national strike on July 6 over the killings. Meanwhile, Basma, the Cairo student, is staying at home scared because, she says, “it can happen again at any time, and any woman who turns down a marriage proposal will fear the same thing will happen to her.”

Friedel Taube translated this text from English.