The case of a mother who supposedly died by drowning in a washing machine has been reopened by prosecutors after an outcry on social media.
The young mother, who has been named as Umniah Alaa, was initially ruled to have drowned in a washing machine at her home in the city of Bella, in the Kafr El-Sheikh governorate, in northern Egypt, on 2nd July 2021.
But after the ruling, her brother – who goes by ‘Muhammed Alaa’ on Twitter – tweeted that he had doubts over the initial ruling, saying (in Arabic): “My sister died 25 days after giving birth to her twins. They did not get to see her or even call her Mum. People say she committed suicide, but all the evidence states the opposite.”
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The post, dated 11th March 2022, attracted widespread attention in Egypt and garnered over 8,600 retweets, as well as over 30,000 ‘likes’.
As a result of the outcry, the Egyptian authorities have reopened the case and are investigating, according to local media.
Umniah was reportedly found dead inside a washing machine. Her widower, who has not been named, reportedly said that he woke up and, when he could not find her, he looked for her before locating her lifeless corpse in the household appliance.
Her brother Muhammed is quoted in local media as saying: “By the way, she died from drowning (asphyxia) because no one believes that she was electrocuted by the washing machine, and there was no laundry in it. Nothing.”
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Muhammed has doubts about his sister’s demise, claiming that the alleged accident was, in fact, a “murder” and not a “suicide”, which is what her widower allegedly claims.
He said: “On the day of her death, we woke up at 8 in the morning with banging on our door and the neighbour was shouting.”
Muhammed added: “My mother and I ran, we found my sister on the floor in front of the kitchen, and my sister was dead, and her husband and mother-in-law had been around her for hours.”
Muhammed said that after her body was taken to hospital, it was assessed by a health inspector, who reportedly said that she had died as a result of asphyxia by drowning, adding that her death had occurred approximately six hours prior.
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After the initial ruling into her death caused an outcry on social media, users reportedly called for the mother’s alleged killer to be found and punished.
The Egyptian Attorney General has reportedly bowed to the pressure of social media users and directed the Public Prosecutor to reinvestigate the case, with the final results expected to be announced after the completion of its investigation.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has repeatedly decried violence against women in Egypt, which comes in the form of “honor killings, dowry crimes and bride-price abuse, intimate partner violence, sexual assault by a non-partner, homicide/femicide, sex trafficking”, among other factors.