Egypt executes convicted killer of Coptic Orthodox priest

A crime that deeply shocked Egypt’s Coptic community and broader public has reached its legal conclusion after the family of Father Arsanios Wadid confirmed that Egyptian authorities have executed the man convicted of murdering him.

The sentence was carried out after all stages of litigation were completed and the defendant had exhausted his available legal appeals, bringing to an end a case that lasted more than four years from the killing to the execution of the final judgment.

According to the attorney representing the priest’s family, Egyptian authorities carried out the death sentence , the most severe punishment under the country’s law, after investigators and the courts found the defendant responsible for intentional murder.

The execution followed the Egyptian Court of Cassation’s rejection of the defendant’s final appeal and its affirmation of an earlier ruling by the Alexandria Criminal Court, making the sentence final and enforceable.

The case dates back to April 7, 2022, when Wadid, a priest of the Coptic Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary and St. Paul the Apostle in Alexandria’s Karmouz-Moharam Bek district, was participating in a weekly parish gathering at one…