EGYPT: MAN GETS DEATH SENTENCE FOR TORTURING WIFE TO DEATH

March 2, 2012: An Egypt court in Shebeen al-Koum, a prominent village in Menufiya, in the Nile Delta region north of Cairo, handed the death sentence to a man who tortured and killed his wife in 2010.
The husband, identified as Said Ibrahim, 43, was accused of torturing his wife, Etimad Belal, 33, to death.
He assaulted her with a stick and cut her with a knife.
He then restrained her movement and locked her inside their home.
On the last day of the woman’s life, she was locked in their bedroom, with large locks on the outside of the door, wood panels on the windows and he set the room on fire.
The 33-year-old woman died of smoke inhalation and choked to death.
The husband had allegedly been upset that his wife wanted to visit her family, which he objected to. They fought over it and he decided to permanently stop her from asking to see her parents again.
Before setting the room on fire, the man, who works as a driver, tortured his wife using a kitchen knife, until she fell unconscious in a pool of her own blood, according to police reports.
The prosecutor built a case - number 2727 for the year 2010 – against the man after the husband admitted to his crimes. He was soon facing the court, who handed him the death penalty.
Studies suggest that hundreds of Egyptian women lose their lives every year at the hands of a family member in domestic violence incidents, with the government not planning any serious action to combat the horrifically high numbers.
According to a 2009 rights report, 260 women died due to crimes of violence in Egypt. (Sources: bikyamasr.com, 04/03/2012)