In the latest developments of a highly controversial case, a Child Criminal Court in Egypt has decided to adjourn the trial hearing of Mohamed Rajeh as per local news outlets.
The latter, accused of killing 18-year-old student Mahmoud Al Banna for defending a young woman from assault and harassment in Mounfeya, was proven to be 17-years-old, not 19-years-old as previous records have shown.
Rajeh is accused of stabbing Al Banna to death in the city of Tala, along with three other individuals.
The case has gathered momentum on social media, with many expressing shock at the deliberately premeditated crime of the accused, especially considering that Al Banna’s acts are perceived as courageous.
The victim, Al Banna, had vocally expressed his stance on harassment and his frustrations with Rajeh’s behavior on Instagram. The defendant sent threatening messages to the victim, and then agreed with a group of his friends to kill him mid October.
Rajeh’s laywers, according to local media outlets, have revealed that he is to be treated in accordance with international law conventions of juvniles which means that the is to be given a maximum sentence of 15 years.
The trial hearing is scheduled to take place on November 17.
To condemn the heinous crime committed against Mahmoud El-Banna, the hashtag ‘#راجح_قاتل’ (Rajeh is a killer) topped social media sites to demand for his execution, but this is not likely to take place considering the most recent revelation about the defendant’s age.
This is not the first incident in Egypt where an individual gets killed for defending women from harassment. Earlier this year, an Egyptian man was stabbed to death as he attempted to prevent another man from harassing a woman in a district of southern Cairo.
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