A Cairo criminal court sentenced two men to death on Wednesday for killing a 24-year-old woman in Cairo’s Maadi suburb two months ago in an incident that has stirred public uproar in Egypt.

Mariam Mohamed was found dead in a Maadi street after being robbed on 13 October by the perpetrators.

According to the prosecution, Mariam died when her head bumped into a parked car after two men on a microbus approached her and snatched her bag.

As the victim was trying to cling to her bag, the two offenders ran over her with the intention of murdering her and escaped with the stolen bag. She sustained injuries that led to her death.

The perpetrators were found in possession of a firearm and a cold weapon.

A third defendant, the vehicle owner, who was charged with assisting the two men in committing the crime by providing them with his own car, was exonerated by the court.

On 25 November, the court issued a preliminary death sentence for the two defendants and asked Dar Al-Ifta for its opinion on the sentence, in accordance with Egyptian law on capital cases.

The verdict can be appealed within 60 days.