Two nurses arrested for allegedly leaking morgue video of Egyptian femicide victim Naira Ashraf

Two Egyptian nurses have been arrested and referred to the public prosecution after allegedly leaking a video showing the dead body of femicide victim Naira Ashraf at the morgue before the autopsy.

Ashraf was brutally murdered by a fellow university student after she repeatedly turned down his marriage proposals, sparking outrage in Egypt.

Her family went through further heartbreak after a video emerged online this week showing her dead body in a hospital morgue.

"The prosecution investigated the incident that took place at Mansoura general hospital, in northeastern Egypt, after the victim’s father filed a complaint against the administration…. two nurses behind the video were identified, one shot the video and another circulated it," the prosecutor general said in a statement released late Wednesday.   

The graphic video in question shows stab wounds to the victim's uncovered body.

Ashraf's family earlier told local news outlets they were deeply shocked by the video.

The victim was murdered by her classmate on 20 June outside the Mansoura college campus. Her killing sparked mass outrage in Egypt and underlined deep problems of violence against women in the country.

The killer, Mohamed Adel, confessed to stabbing and slitting Ashraf's throat and was sentenced to death by hanging about two weeks after his arrest, the fastest trial in Egypt's history.

Meanwhile, controversial lawyer Samir Sabry filed a complaint before the prosecutor general against the hospital staff hosting the morgue for filming and leaking the video of Ashraf, local Cairo24 news outlet reported.

The report added, citing Sabry saying: "The video leak was a desecration of the dead that violates all Abrahamic religions as well as the law, which is a heinous crime."