Last month, the court found Islam Mohamed guilty of stabbing and murdering Salma Bahgat.

Premeditated murder is punishable by the death penalty in Egypt.

As per the Egyptian penal code, the court sought the non-binding opinion of Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawki Allam.

Salma Bahgat, a 20-year-old student who was studying mass communication at Shorouk Academy, was stabbed multiple times on 12 August by 22-year-old Islam Mohamed, according to a prosecution statement.

The incident took place in the lobby of a building in Zagazig city - the capital of Sharqiya governorate in the Nile Delta.

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

The prosecution said Mohamed decided to murder Bahgat after she and her relatives had turned down his marriage proposal due to his “bizarre mindset [and] bad behaviour.”

The defendant found out the victim’s location by deceiving one of her friends, whom she had set to meet in the building where the crime took place, the prosecution noted.

The defendant confessed to killing Bahgat in detail during the prosecution’s investigation and before a specialised court.

Today's verdict can be appealed before the Court of Cassation.

The incident, which stirred public uproar, took place less than two months after 21-year-old student Mohamed Adel killed fellow student Nayera Ashraf at Mansoura University in broad daylight, also after she had rejected his advances.

In July, a criminal court issued a death penalty against Adel who appealed the ruling before the Court of Cassation.