2 men detained for 4 days over fabricating young girl’s photos, causing her to commit suicide

CAIRO – 6 January 2022: Prosecution has ordered detention of two men accused of fabricating photos of a young women and blackmailed her online causing her to commit suicide.

The two men will remain in custody for four days pending investigations. They were both arrested on Tuesday, 24 hours after the story became viral on social media and caused a wave of anger on social media.

A professor was found to have bullied the victim, Passant Khaled, after her fabricated photos spread in the village. He was later identified by security authorities and arrested him Thursday.

The victim 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.

The victim's father said in a phone-in Monday evening that he knew the photos did not belong to his daughter as the woman's body appeared bigger than Passant's, and that he did not pick a fight with her, prompting her to commit suicide.