The crime of premeditated murder is punishable by the death penalty in Egypt.

A state of public uproar has prevailed on social media after 22-year-old university student Islam Mohamed reportedly stabbed to death 20-year-old Bahgat in the lobby of a building in the city of Zagazig, the capital of Sharqiya governorate.

Following the attack, bystanders rushed to the scene of the crime and detained the suspect by closing the gates of the building until police arrived.

Mohamed is suspected to have stalked the victim, who was was studying mass communication at Shorouk Academy, for some time.

In its Thursday statement, the prosecution said Mohamed decided to murder Bahgat after she and her relatives refused his marriage proposal due to his “bizarre thoughts [and] bad behaviour.”

Mohamed threatened to murder the victim if she and her family did not accept the proposal, according to the statement.

The defendant found out the victim’s location by deceiving one of her friends, who she was set to meet inside the building where the crime took place, the prosecution said.

Mohamed bought a knife from a nearby shop and stabbed her several times with the purpose of killing her when she entered to the building, the prosecution added.

The defendant confessed his crime in detail during the Public Prosecution’s investigations and before a specialised court, the prosecution noted.

The prosecution said it also established its evidence against Mohamed by listening to the testimonies of 15 people, checking forensic reports and other digital data, as well as inspecting the phones of the defendant, the victim and her friend.

The crime came less than two months after a similar incident stirred public anger when a 21-year-old student at Mansoura University killed his fellow student, Nayera Ashraf, also in broad daylight after she rejected his advances. In July, a criminal court issued a preliminary death penalty verdict against the perpetrator in the case.