Two sexist crimes shake Egypt and Jordan

Naira Ashraf, student murdered in Egypt.

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Two sexist murders of two young college girls just three days apart, both committed by two rejected suitors.

The first, to a young woman in Egypt, the other, in Jordan.

They are the latest example of the extreme violence faced by women in the Arab world.

These crimes have unleashed a wave of consternation and anger among the citizens of these countries, who call on the authorities to address the root of the problem of this scourge: machismo, misogyny.

A call to convene a transnational general strike of women on July 6 has gained momentum on social networks, in response to the brutal levels of sexist violence.

The promoters of the call, which on Facebook has almost 20,000 followers,

The first murder occurred on Monday, June 20, in front of the university of Mansura, a city in northern Egypt, where the 21-year-old art student Nayera Ashraf was stabbed several times and had her throat slit in front of numerous witnesses in full view. daylight for a young man whom she had rejected: Ashrafa refused to marry him.

The crime was caught on video, which quickly spread through social media.

In it you can see how the murderer lunges at her in the middle of a busy street.

Two days after the crime, the Egyptian Prosecutor's Office reported that the confessed murderer had been arrested and put on trial.

The public ministry said in a statement that the killer's mobile phone contained several messages threatening to cut Ashraf's throat.

In the same way, the authorities have specified that on the day of the crime the murderer got on the same bus as the student, who was on her way to the university to take some exams.

When getting out of the vehicle, he attacked her with a knife that he had hidden.

The first session of the trial was scheduled for last Sunday, but the court postponed the hearing to this Tuesday.

Despite the prompt reaction of the Prosecutor's Office, the details that have been revealed about the months prior to the murder and the reaction of a part of society have further inflamed the spirits of public opinion.

Ashraf's environment has ensured that the young woman had filed several complaints against the murderer to the police, often accused by a part of the citizenry of passivity and indifference to these cases, and that the Prosecutor's Office had already issued restraining orders.

Guilty for not wearing a veil and wearing tight clothes

A televangelist and professor at the prestigious Al Azhar religious university blamed Ashraf for his own murder for not wearing a veil and wearing tight clothing.

In a large poster in memory of the young woman hanging in front of the place where she was murdered, a manipulated photo was also included in which she appears dressed in a veil, despite the fact that she was not wearing it.

The televangelist's message generated a strong reaction on social networks and in some media outlets.

The official National Women's Council reported that they have reported this man to the authorities for his misogynistic nature and for inciting violence and murder, a crime punishable by law.

The second murder occurred last Thursday, when a 37-year-old man shot several times the young nursing student Iman Rashid, after finishing an exam at a university in Amman, the capital of Jordan.

Rashid's killer managed to enter the campus despite having a weapon with him, according to Jordanian media reports.

Although the young woman was rushed to a nearby hospital, she died shortly after.

In this case, Rashid's killer committed suicide after police tracked him down and surrounded him, the country's Public Security said in a statement on Sunday.

Some local media have released an alleged screenshot of a mobile phone in which a message can be read that the murderer would have sent to the victim where he assured her that if she did not agree to marry him he would kill her, following the example of what he had succeeded Ashraf in Egypt.

Following the murder of Rashid, who was buried a day later in northern Jordan, social networks were again filled with messages of indignation and sadness, and calls demanding justice.

The young woman's university also announced that she had decided to rename one of her faculty spaces with her name to preserve her memory.

Although it has received less attention than the previous two cases, last Saturday the twenty-something Jordanian

Lubna Mansour,

was also murdered at the hands of a man in the city of Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates.

Emirate Police reported that the woman had been stabbed in her car, where she was found after her.

Agents arrested her killer shortly after.

Although the authorities did not identify the murderer or the victim, Mansur's family did so on social media.