Egyptian man beheads wife, takes selfie with severed head

An Egyptian man beheaded his wife in the northern part of the country then sent a selfie he took with her severed head to her parents, local media reported on Sunday.

The man, identified as Hamda al-Ajouz, reportedly took a selfie with her corpse after committing the crime in the town of Tirah in the Dakhlia governorate.

The victim was identified as Zeinab Ibrahim and was reportedly 26 years old.

Al-Ajouz then took to Facebook Live and said he will not turn himself in unless he speaks to journalists to explain “his situation” and what drove him to commit the crime.

“I will not leave [the apartment] before television channels come and I explain my [situation],” he said in the video, adding that “all of this” was for the sake of his three daughters whom he wants to be with.

“No one had mercy on me. Many people did not have mercy on me. I will not leave my apartment… before television channels come and record [an interview with me] so people know who I truly am and what drove me to do this,” he added.

In another video he posted on TikTok, al-Ajouz claimed that his wife, who was identified as Zeinab, was planning to kill him.

Speaking in front of his three daughters after he committed the crime, al-Ajouz said: “Allah is the best helper against the unjust [man] who was going to come and kill me tonight… who wanted to [help her] kill me and [deprive] me of my children.”

Al-Ajouz refused to turn himself in and threatened to kill his daughters if anyone tries to arrest him, local media reported, however, police reportedly managed to detain him and save the children.

The victim’s father told Cairo 24 news website that his daughter married al-Ajouz nine years ago, but they got divorced two years ago and recently remarried him.

“After [al-Ajouz] returned from Saudi Arabia, he begged me to [let him] remarry her, and she accepted to do so for the sake of her kids,” Ibrahim’s father said, adding that she went back to al-Ajouz earlier this month.

“Zeinab was a strong and kind woman. After she left him, she worked to support [herself] and her daughters.”

He also said that he does not know why al-Ajouz killed his daughter, noting however that al-Ajouz did drugs.

“[She] asked for a divorce [years ago] because she found out he was doing drugs… [but] I accepted [his proposal] to remarry her because I wanted my grandchildren to grow up with their parents,” he added.