In Egypt, the death sentence against the murderer of a Coptic priest has been carried out

A criminal who committed the high-profile murder of Coptic priest Arsanius Wadid in 2022 was executed in Egypt. After many years of legal proceedings, the highest court upheld the verdict, and the death sentence was carried out. This was reported by Blagovest-info.

The tragedy occurred on April 7, 2022, in Alexandria, when Hegumen Arsanius Vadid was accompanying a group of parish youth after an event at one of the city’s beaches. At that moment, the 55-year-old clergyman was attacked and sustained fatal stab wounds. The perpetrator, 60-year-old Nehru Abdel-Moneim Tawfik, was apprehended by witnesses at the scene.

The trial was marked by attempts by the defense to portray the defendant as mentally ill; however, a psychiatric evaluation found him to be of sound mind. Despite appeals filed by the defense, the Court of Cassation in January 2025 definitively upheld the death penalty. It is worth noting that the priest’s murder sparked widespread public outrage in Egypt: representatives of various religious communities, including the imam of Al-Azhar Islamic University, expressed their condolences to the victim’s family and to Patriarch Tawadros II, head of the Coptic Church.