Minister of Immigration and Expatriate Affairs Nabila Makram announced earlier this week that her son Rami Fahim has been charged with killing two people in California.
On 27 May, Makram published a statement on her Facebook page that she and her family are going through a difficult time. Makram called for prayers for her son and for the two victims and said that she will continue her duties as minister. “My family and I are under severe distress following my son being charged with murder in the US. This charge is in a US court and a sentence has not yet been issued,” the statement read.
The Supreme Court of Orange County, California, has scheduled Fahim’s trial for 17 June for murdering his co-worker and flatmate, both 23, by stabbing them with a knife. The attack took place on Tuesday 19 April in their Katella Avenue apartment in Anaheim at about 6:30am. According to a press release issued by the Orange County District Attorney’s (DA) Office, Fahim, 26, who was an employee at LPL Network RIA firm Pence Wealth Management, is accused of stabbing his co-worker Griffin Cuomo and then stabbing Cuomo’s roommate Jonathan Bahm.
The DA’s office has charged Fahim with two counts of murder, and two enhancements each of lying-in wait, multiple murders, and the personal use of a deadly weapon, thus making him eligible for the death penalty.
“Fulfilling my duties as a minister in the government does not conflict at all with me being a believing mother who bravely faces the dilemma of her son. Whatever the consequences, as a minister, I take full responsibility for my position and the requirements of working in it, and I clearly differentiate between what is personal and what is public,” Makram said in her Facebook post.
However, the situation Makram finds herself in has caused widespread controversy. Iman Al-Shehabi, a professor of political science at Cairo University, believes that the minister should resign because she will not be able to fulfil her mission properly. “She is a mother; she will be preoccupied with her son’s problem to the detriment of other expatriate problems. This is normal. After all, she is a mother before being a minister. She needs to focus on his problem, and this is her right,” Al-Shehabi said.
Veteran TV presenter Amr Adib revealed that the minister can take a holiday instead of resigning until her son’s crisis is resolved. According to Adib, any of the minister’s assistants could take over until the court reaches a verdict.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 2 June, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
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