Nine human rights organizations along with 99 public figures released a joint press statement condemning the killing of 18-year-old Egyptian student Mariam Moustafa, who was killed in what some describe as a hate crime in Nottingham city in the UK.
The statement said that what happened should not be left without punishment handed to the perpetrators. “The crime intended to leave traces of ethnic, religious and other forms of discrimination,” read the statement.
It went on to declare that the signatories expressed their sincere condolences to the victim’s family and to Egyptian society in general, calling for a joint British-Egyptian investigation to support the efforts of the authorities in Egypt and Britain to combat terrorism, extremism, hate speech and racism.
Moreover, the statement said that the authorities must take the necessary measures against racial discrimination and offer any medical, moral and psychological support to victims of such cases and to provide them with legal advice and rehabilitation in order to reintegrate them into society.
It stressed that this is not the first attack experienced by the family. Moustafa’s younger sister Malak, 15, and brother Adam, 12, had both previously been assaulted. Moustafa herself had been harassed four months ago by two of the ten criminals.
The NGOs that released the statement included the Cairo Foundation for Development and Law, Egyptian Women’s Issues Foundation and the Legal Institution for Family Assistance and Human Rights.
Among the public figures who signed the statement are President of the Egypt Peace Foundation for Development and Human Rights Ahmed Fawuky, Director of the Center of the Arab House for Research and Studies Magdy Abdel Fattah, and journalist Khaled Al Balashi.
Earlier this week, Parliamentarian Alaa Abed, head of the Human Rights Committee in Egypt’s parliament, announced that the committee will be sending an envoy headed by himself to follow up on developments in the investigations in Mostafa’s case.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Spokesman Ahmed Abou Zeid declared that the Egyptian Consulate in London will follow all the legal procedures, in collaboration with the consulate’s lawyer as well as Moustafa family’s lawyer, to avenge Moustafa and punish all those who are responsible for her death.
Mariam Mostafa, an engineering student and resident of the city of Nottingham, was severely beaten and injured by a group of young women last month and died from her injuries in March.
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