An Egyptian man named Mohamed Adel has been sentenced to death for the the murder of Nayera Ashraf  after she rejected his marriage proposal. 

A video showing the murder of the 21-year-old student at Mansoura University went viral last week, sparking widespread outrage and calls for greater protection against gender violence and femicide in the region. 

Nehad Abo El-Komsan, a lawyer and rights advocate, took to Instagram saying “As long as we do not take the complaints of young women seriously, and as long as we say that those fighting for women’s rights are ‘emboldening girls and causing trouble’, this will be the result.”

The Observatory of Crimes of Violence against Women in Egypt recorded more than 800 cases against women last year, nearly double compared with the previous year. The actual number of incidents is likely to be much higher as women tend to not report to the police.