Alexandrian security forces have arrested the mother of Karim Selim, widely known in the media as the “New Cairo Serial Killer” or the “Tagamoa Serial Killer”, to enforce a six-month prison sentence issued against her for repeatedly refusing to comply with a court order to hand over her grandson, Zayn, to his mother, Lobna Yakout, according to Al-Ahram.
The Alexandria Misdemeanor Court issued a final ruling sentencing the accused to prison after the child’s mother, Yakout, filed an official complaint accusing the grandmother of unlawfully retaining the child and refusing to comply with a prior court order to return him.
The court’s decision came in response to the grandmother’s continued defiance of that ruling.
In a social media story, Yakout announced that her son has been safely returned to her and expressed gratitude to everyone who supported her throughout the ordeal.
The custody battle centers on Yakout, ex-wife of convicted serial killer Karim Selim. Yakout had shared in an earlier interview with Egyptian Streets the years-long domestic abuse she endured before the separation in 2020.
Following Selim’s arrest for the torture and murder of multiple women, Yakout learned that their young son had been placed in the care of Selim’s mother. Despite securing a court ruling granting her full custody, Yakout had been unable to locate either her son or her former mother-in-law.
She has since filed criminal charges for kidnapping and failure to comply with a court order, and has appealed to both Egyptian authorities and international organizations for help in locating and reuniting with her child.
Before his arrest and eventual death sentence, Karim Selim, an American University in Cairo graduate, was a well-known social media influencer. He gained popularity on TikTok, where he amassed over 600,000 followers for his comedic skits teaching North American slang to non-native English speakers. His TikTok and YouTube accounts have since been deleted.
The case first came to public attention in May, when the body of an unidentified woman was found along Road 30 June in Port Said. Authorities linked the murder to Selim, who had reportedly lured the victim to his residence in New Cairo, where they consumed drugs.
According to a statement from the Public Prosecution Office, Selim was charged with murder, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and the production of explicit videos involving his victims, some recorded both before and after their deaths.
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