On August 8, 2022, 21-year-old university student and newspaper intern Salma Bahgat was fatally stabbed 17 times outside the entrance of a building near her internship in Zagazig. The accused, Islam Mohamed Tartour, was a fellow mass-communications student who reportedly believed they had a romantic relationship, while Salma's family said she had rejected a marriage proposal and that they were only classmates. The source reports prior stalking, threats, psychiatric-treatment history, advance planning, a confession, a death sentence, and subsequent confirmation of that sentence after an appeal.
Country: Egypt
State/Province: Ash Sharqīyah, Egypt
City/Region: Zagazig
Incident Type: Murder
Relationship Status: Rejected proposal
Relationship Duration:
Incident Date: Aug. 8, 2022
Relationship Origins:
Relationship Stages:
Contributing Factors:
Red Flags:
Motives:
Relationship Outcomes:
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How the relationship or connection began.
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2022-08-08
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elham kamyab99 - Iran · Original language: Persian
Salma Bahgat stalking and murder case in Egypt
Rejected Proposal and Stalking
The source describes a disputed relationship narrative between university classmates. Islam reportedly interpreted the connection as romantic and later framed Salma's rejection as humiliation, while Salma's family said she never had a romantic relationship with him and had rejected his marriage proposal. The reported pathway included repeated stalking, explicit threats, advance weapon preparation, an ambush at a predictable workplace location, and fatal violence.
The source reports that the investigation began on August 12, 2022. Police questioned Islam Mohamed Tartour, who reportedly confessed that he killed Salma because she rejected him. Prosecutors reportedly presented threatening Instagram posts and stories, surveillance footage showing him waiting for Salma, and evidence of advance planning. The defense raised his history of psychiatric hospitalization and long-term treatment, while the prosecution argued that he understood his actions and had planned them. On September 4, 2022, he reportedly acknowledged the killing in court. On November 7, 2022, the Zagazig Criminal Court sentenced him to death by hanging. His family's appeal was reportedly filed by January 6, 2023, after which the sentence was confirmed and the case was described as closed.
The central uncertainties concerned whether Salma and Islam had ever been romantically involved and whether Islam's psychiatric history affected his criminal responsibility. Salma could not provide a contrary account after her death, while her family and friends reportedly denied the relationship claimed by Islam. Public opinion was divided between viewing the conduct as planned violence and viewing it through the lens of his reported mental-health history.
According to the source, Salma and Islam were classmates in mass communications, but the nature of their relationship was disputed. Salma's family said she rejected his marriage proposal, while Islam reportedly believed she had been his romantic partner and had humiliated or abandoned him. In the weeks before the killing, he allegedly sent threats, stalked her internship location, and told his father he wanted to kill her. On August 8, he reportedly took a concealed knife, went to the newspaper office before Salma's expected arrival, followed her inside, and stabbed her repeatedly. Witnesses intervened and contacted police, but she died before emergency teams arrived. The investigation then linked the incident to his online threats, surveillance footage, witness accounts, his reported confession, and the competing psychiatric-responsibility arguments.
The reported risk level was high before the homicide because of repeated stalking, explicit social-media threats, a stated intention to kill, prior violence toward his father, incomplete psychiatric treatment, weapon concealment, surveillance of Salma's routine, and apparent planning. The source also reports that warning signs were noticed by family members and nearby witnesses but were not treated as an imminent danger.
The source highlights a high-risk combination of rejected romantic or marriage expectations, entitlement, stalking, explicit threats, prior violence, weapon preparation, and knowledge of a victim's routine. It also shows how apparently ordinary public behavior can coexist with concealed fixation and escalating threats. The case is useful for comparison with relationship-driven violence involving disputed intimacy, rejection, harassment, and failures to recognize imminent danger.
The most important reported early signals were repeated stalking near Salma's internship, threatening Instagram messages and stories, a public statement that he wanted to commit a crime, a reported threat to kill Salma made to his father, prior violence toward his father, and concealment of a knife before approaching her.
Reportedly important clues included the accused's social-media threats, surveillance footage showing him waiting for Salma, witness observations of his repeated presence near her internship, his knowledge of her daily schedule, the concealed knife, eyewitness accounts of the attack, and his reported admission in court.
The source identifies social-media posts and stories, surveillance-camera footage, eyewitness testimony, family testimony, forensic examination of Salma's body, the recovered knife, police questioning, and the accused's reported confession as significant evidence types. The exact forensic findings and chain-of-custody details are not provided.
A supermarket owner reportedly saw Islam near Salma's internship almost every day and remembered his visible hand tattoos. Another shopkeeper reportedly saw him frequently and described him as nervous and restless. Eyewitnesses reportedly saw the rapid stabbing, heard him say that he loved Salma, and observed him threaten people who tried to intervene. Islam's father reportedly said that his son had announced an intention to kill Salma about a week before the incident and had previously tried to harm him.
Follow-up reporting shifted the case from an immediate public killing to a broader account involving prior threats, stalking, advance planning, surveillance footage, and a disputed psychiatric-responsibility defense. The later court proceedings reportedly confirmed a death sentence after an appeal. The source does not provide independent medical records or detailed appellate reasoning.
The source does not conclusively establish whether Salma and Islam ever had a romantic relationship. It also does not provide the full psychiatric evaluations, detailed forensic findings, exact arrest circumstances, or the complete legal reasoning behind confirmation of the death sentence. The source contains occasional inconsistencies in the rendering of Salma's name and in descriptions of the case chronology.