An Egyptian judge identified as Ayman Hajaj has allegedly murdered his wife, a 42-year-old television presenter, and burned her face using nitric acid, according to local media reports.
Earlier in June, Hajaj, who is also reportedly the vice president of the State Council, reported that his wife, Shaymaa Jamal, had gone missing and that she was last seen in front of a mall in the 6th of October City in the governorate of Giza.
The circumstances surrounding her disappearance became clear after an alleged witness stepped forward and informed the authorities where Jamal’s body was.
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Ibrahim Tantawi, the lawyer of the alleged witness with initials H.M., explained that his client was present when Hajaj killed his wife in the farm where her body was found, local news website Masrawy reported on Tuesday.
He also said that Jamal was Hajaj’s second wife and that their marriage was “secret” adding that his first wife knew nothing about it.
According to the witness, after Hajaj and Jamal engaged in a heated argument, Hajaj struck her three times on the head with a gun and then strangled her with a scarf she was wearing, suffocating her to death and killing her on the spot.
H.M., who reportedly witnessed the crime, was threatened by Hajaj and held captive to prevent him from going to the police.
In remarks to al-Masry al-Youm, Tantawi said that the witness is a contractor who rented the farm to Hajaj a month ago, and he was at the farm when Hajaj took Jamal there. He also said that Hajaj and H.M. were neighbors and knew each other well.
After killing her, Hajaj threatened H.M. reportedly telling him that if he tells anyone, he will say he is his accomplice.
Tantawi explained that H.M. tried to convince Hajaj to go to the police and confess to killing her during an argument, however, he refused and instead held H.M. captive.
H.M. managed to convince Hajaj to let him go by telling him his family will be worried about him and it was best to go see them.
After letting him go, H.M. went to Tantawi, and they immediately went to the police to report the crime.
Separately on Tuesday, the public prosecution said in a statement that a man “who confirmed his close relationship with the victim’s husband” stepped forward and said he has information that Hajaj is involved in killing Jamal.
“He confirmed he witnessed the crime and that he knows where her body is buried,” the public prosecution said, adding that the man who guided the police to Jamal’s body “confessed to participating in the crime” and has since been detained.
The public prosecution also ordered the arrest of Hajaj, Masrawy cited a well-informed source as saying.
The news of discovering Jamal’s body sparked outrage among Egyptians, particularly after last week’s crime when Naiyera Ashraf, a twenty-one-year-old Egyptian student, was killed in front of the entrance of her university by a man whose marriage proposal she had rejected.
“Please end violence against women,” one user wrote on Twitter adding the hashtag Shaymaa_Jamal.
“It’s a painful week with all these news about women being murdered by emotionally disturbed men,” another wrote.
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