Egypt hands death penalty to police officer accused of killing seven family members

Egypt’s Alexandria Criminal Court on Sunday gave a preliminary death sentence to a 40-year-old police officer accused of killing seven members of his family.

The officer was found guilty of killing his wife, their three children, and his wife's mother, father, and brother. He is also accused of attempting to kill another of his sons who was left injured, The New Arab's Arabic service Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

The man, who Egyptian media did not name, was arrested on 7 March when gunshots were heard at a home in the Al-Taraa Al-Mardouma area of Alexandria.

According to investigations, the accused opened fire with a pistol on seven people at his wife’s family’s house.

He was apparently angry with his wife over her refusal to reconcile with him over his alleged drug use and mistreatment of her.

The sentencing was given after the court listened to statements from the only surviving child.

The court set 6 May as the date during which they will pronounce the final verdict, after taking the legal opinion of the Grand Mufti - a formality in Egyptian death sentences.

The defendant will have the right to appeal his death sentence before the Court of Cassation within 60 days.

In 2022, several femicide cases rocked Egypt, sparking outrage across the country. University student Naira Ashraf was killed in June in the city of Mansoura, after spurning her murderer's marriage proposals. 

A month later, a university student was stabbed to death by her classmate in Cairo, also for rejecting his advances.

A national study by the country’s Centre for Criminal and Social Research said that 92 percent of murders in the country were so-called "honour killings". It also reported that economic factors have become a main reason for an increase in murder rates, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

Statistically, around 7.8 million Egyptian women undergo a form of gender-based violence annually as per a UN survey released in 2015.