Nayera Ashraf’s murder case: Evidences behind death penalty, expected legal scenarios

CAIRO – 6 July 2022: Mansoura Criminal Court sentenced to death the killer of student Nayera Ashraf Wednesday, on the grounds of his accusation of premeditated murder.

The defendant Mohamed Adel deliberately killed student Nayera Ashraf on June 20 outside Mansoura University.

The court relied on several evidence in convicting the defendant, Mohamed Adel, and punish him per the provisions of the articles of the Penal Code.

Among these evidence are:

-       The detailed confessions of the accused, which he made during the investigations, and then before the court.

-       The accused conducted a photographic examination of how he committed the crime, and confessed all its details.

-       The surveillance cameras recorded the details of the incident, and the court retrieved the footage and reviewed them as evidence in the case.

-       The statements of eyewitnesses who saw the incident, and was aware of the accused's continuous threats to the girl.

-       Investigations by the security services about the incident, which convicted the accused and proved his involvement in the crime.

-       The Forensic report on the autopsy of the victim's body.

Forensic report on the examination of the crime weapon.

According to investigations, Adel intended to kill her in retaliation for her refuse to engage to him. Adel confessed that he set a plan to commit his crime, where he waited until Nayera Ashraf (the victim) finished her final exam and left the university campus, and he attacked her, slit her neck in the street and left her soaked in blood. The crime scene was captured on camera and went viral on social media, where floods of angry comments calling for justice took over different platforms ever since.

The court had decided, during its previous hearing, to refer the papers of the case to Egypt’s Mufti, to take the religious advise on the execution of the defendant on charges of premeditated murder, according to the Egyptian law, though the religious opinion of the Mufti is non-binding.

And the question here is whether this is the final verdict?

This case has occupied discussions on social media for a longtime ever since the crime took place, and on Wednesday, the court pronounced its verdict to put an end to the case. But that does not mean the end of the legal procedures in the case, as we explain in the below lines.

Thirty days after the verdict’s announcement, the court releases the reasoning of the ruling.

The defense of the accused begin to study the reasoning of the verdict, and then prepare a memorandum of appeal against the ruling, which will be submitted to the Court of Cassation.

In this case, the Court of Cassation issues a judgment either accepting the appeal or rejecting the appeal and upholding the judgment.

If the appeal is accepted, the Court of Cassation considers the case and decides on it.

Then, there are three scenarios for the legal fate of Naira Ashraf’s killer, when the case is considered by the Court of Cassation. The scenarios are: upholding the ruling, reducing it or canceling it.