Egypt’s prosecution questions defendants accused with blackmailing a girl, leading her to suicide

CAIRO – 4 January 2022:  Egypt’s Public Prosecution said, Tuesday that they received a statement on December 25th on a girl named Passant Khaled who committed a suicide after being blackmailed with a fabricated photos by two young men in Kafr El-Zayat city in Gharbia Governorate.

The Prosecution started investigating the statement that was issued by the girl’s father. The victims’ sister explained that the two men who fabricated the photos wanted to blackmail [Passant], forcing her into a sexual relation which was declined by the victim, and accordingly, they started spreading the photos among all of the small city’s residents.

She also presented to the prosecution Passant’s mobile phone along with a note she wrote to her family before taking her own life assuring that the photos are fabricated.

The prosecution requested an investigation in the case along with a forensic report indicating the cause of death. The prosecution also received the police report saying that [passant] was blackmailed by two young men through sexual fabricated photos leading her to committing a suicide.

The statement added that the two men were arrested upon the prosecutions orders to be questioned over the accusations.

The prosecution called on citizens to trust the investigations and wait for the outcomes and no to follow rumors or false information. It also called on media outlets to support them, and not to allow any news that may disturb peace and security.

Egypt’s National Council for Women [NCW] condemned the crime of fabricating photos of a young woman turning them into seductive ones and blackmailed her online, causing her to commit suicide.

NCW president Maya Morsy, expressed her deep ‘sadness’ and ‘regret’ for the incident, and described it as a ‘crime’, done by immoral young men who took advantage of technology to fabricate photos and blackmail a young girl leading her into a suicide as a result of the psychological and social pressure.

NCW president said that cybercrimes have increased recently as a result of the misuse of technology, stressing that more legislation and laws that punish such crimes must be passed, in addition to implementing awareness campaigns to educate women and girls on how to protect themselves from being blackmailed.

Morsy stressed that the community must stand hand in hand to confront such crimes, noting that what happened is a ‘crime punishable by law’. It called on girls and women who may face such crimes not to be afraid and to report to authorities.

The victim is Passant Khaled, a high-school student aged 17. Passant drank poison Friday, after her family saw the photos and video edited by the two men, who were trying to talk to her but she declined so they threatened her to avenge, posting them on social media.

Before committing suicide, Passant wrote a letter to her mother saying that the woman in the footage is not her, and that she would never behave in this way.