The Egyptian charged with stabbing an American scholar outside the US embassy in Cairo earlier this month will be held for an additional 15 days pending investigations by order of the Qasr El-Nil court on Sunday.

Mahmoud Badr (30) from the Kafr El-Sheikh in the Nile Delta, was arrested on 9 May after stabbing American academic Chris Stone in the neck.

Badr told police during questioning that he had come to Cairo motivated by hatred for the United States in search of an American to kill.

Speaking to Ahram Online last week, Stone, who is an associate professor of Arabic and head of the Arabic Programme at Hunter College of New York's City University, stated: "I fully realise that this was a random act; I still feel that Egypt is a safe place for Americans to live."