A Muslim woman divorcee whose romance to a Christian man prompted her to convert to Christianity was killed by members of her family in Tamia, Egypt in yet another case of honour killing.
Marwa Mohamed, 26, was killed by her cousins and uncle in front of her parents and siblings after she was forcibly brought back to her hometown in Tamia, 87 km southwest of Cairo. Her body was reportedly dumped near a cemetery.
Her younger sister was also made to slit her older sister's throat "as a way to deter her from following in her footsteps,'' Egyptian media quoted sources as saying.
The romance between Marwa, a Muslim mother of two (Sahar, 8 and Omar, 6) and her Coptic neighbor Karim Eid, 27, started in 2013.
George Fahmi, a relative of Eid and a resident of the same place, told authorities after the tragedy that Marwa used to frequent a nearby Christian jeweller's shop where Eid was working. The frequent meetings ended in the couple eloping and heading to Alexandria (280 km away from Tamia) during the summer of 2013
Embarrassed by what their family member had done, Marwa's family and relatives stormed the local St. George church and the priest's home in a desperate attempt to locate her, said Fahmi.
Marwa's parents and siblings later left Tamia for Cairo to avoid the scorn of neighbours and relatives over the elopement of their daughter to a Coptic Christian.
Marwa, meanwhile, converted to Christianity and lived with Eid in Alexandria where they settled for 30 months, during which time she became pregnant, and they had the baby aborted, according to Charisma News.
However, on Nov. 6 last year when the couple went back to Tamia to visit Eid's parents, they were seen by Marwa's daughter from her previous husband who apparently informed Marwa's family of her return. The so-called "male guardians'' in the absence of her father in Cairo later stormed Eid's home where they assaulted his mother and forcibly took Marwa away to her parents in the capital. Eid was not home at that time.
"Marwa stayed in hiding with us for 10 days until her uncle and his two sons found her in my house," recalled Ahmed Mohamed, Marwa's father. "They took us all back to Tamia, where they abused us. Early on Wednesday, Nov. 18, they killed her in front of me, and her mother and sister."
Mohamed said they reported the murder of their daughter to the police, but the accused, Marwa's uncle and their nephews, are still at large with no charges filed against them.
Meanwhile, a conciliatory meeting held in the presence of local priest and under the auspices of high-ranking security official was convened between the Muslim woman's clan and Eid's family, where it was agreed that the Christian family sell their homes and "leave the town for good and never set foot therein,'' according to local reports.
Eid's family was given 10 days to relocate from their hometown in order to "avert a sectarian incident.''
