A student who killed his classmate outside their university after rejecting his marriage proposal has been sentenced to death.
Crazed Mohamed Adel hacked 21-year-old Naira Ashraf to death with a knife as she was leaving college to catch the bus home last month.
The grisly slaying outside the gates of Mansoura University in Egypt was filmed by a shocked onlooker from a balcony.
The grim footage shows how Adel slashed the victim's neck with a knife before he was seized by security and passers-by.
The victim was taken to hospital in a critical condition but died en route.
Adel confessed the killing, telling police that his victim had repeatedly turned down his marriage proposals.
On Wednesday, Mansoura Criminal Court sentenced him to death by hanging after finding him guilty of her murder.
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Naira's family and friends said that Adel had been stalking her and threatening her in the period leading up to her death.
Her family had reported him to the police on several occasions.
During the trial, the court saw the death threats the defendant had sent to Naira's mobile phone.
The verdict may be appealed, as controversial former lawyer Farid El-Deeb has announced that he will come out of retirement to defend Adel.
El-Deeb gained notoriety after he defended ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak, who ruled Egypt for almost 30 years amid allegations of widespread corruption.
The lawyer said he became moved to defend Adel after getting provoked by the judge's strongly-worded statement before the verdict.
His hefty fees will allegedly be paid for by anonymous "samaritans from Egypt and Greece".
El-Deeb told local media: "We have 60 days to study the case and the verdict reasoning and come up with a defence to contest the verdict before the court of cassation."
Egypt became the world's top issuer of the death penalty in 2021 sentencing at least 356 people to death, according to Amnesty International.
Death sentences in the Middle East were mostly issued following proceedings that lacked due process, the charity said.
In Egypt, the sentence was still imposed on the basis of testimonies extracted after torture, it added.
