Egypt’s Court of Cassation issued a final and irrevocable ruling on Sunday upholding the death sentence for Karim Selim, known as the “Tagamoa killer,” for murdering three women and disposing their bodies in desert areas.
The court based its decision on the proven material and moral elements of the crimes attributed to the defendant, which include premeditated murder, desecration of the bodies, human trafficking, and possession of narcotics.
During his arguments before the Court of Cassation, the defendant’s lawyers insisted on overturning the earlier verdict and requesting a retrial, citing arguments related to his client’s mental instability.
He demanded that he be presented to a specialized medical committee to assess his behavioral condition.
The defense lawyer also argued that some of the procedures and confessions recorded in the initial investigation reports were invalid, as they were the result of psychological pressures that did not take into account the mental state of the defendant.
The court rejected the appeal filed by the defendant’s lawyers against the lower court’s verdict.
The case dates back to May 2024, when investigations revealed the involvement of the defendant, a former English teacher and social media influencer, in luring his victims to his residence in the Fifth Settlement area of eastern Cairo.
Case documents indicated that the defendant forced his victims to consume narcotics and mind-altering drugs before assaulting them, recording these acts in videos found on his mobile phones.
In September 2024, the Cairo Criminal Court sentenced the defendant to death by hanging, a verdict upheld by the Court of Appeals in December of the same year, after all ordinary avenues of appeal had been exhausted.
The sentence now enters final execution following the Court of Cassation’s ruling, which is not subject to appeal.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
