The Murder of Shaimaa Gamal

Disappearance and discovery

Shaimaa Gamal was an Egyptian television presenter known for the programme El-Moshagheba. In June 2022 she was reported missing. Her husband, judge Ayman Haggag, initially told police that he had dropped her near a shopping area and that she had then disappeared.

The case changed after an associate came forward and described the killing and the disposal of the body. Investigators were led to a farm in the Badrashin area south of Giza, where Gamal's body was recovered in late June 2022.

Prosecution case

Egypt's Public Prosecution accused Haggag and Hussein El-Gharably of premeditated murder. Prosecutors said the two men had planned the killing in advance and then concealed the body. Their case relied on witness testimony, forensic findings, mobile-phone location evidence and statements made during the investigation.

A forensic examination cited by Egyptian reporting identified strangulation as the cause of death. Prosecutors also said DNA from the defendants was found on material used in the killing. Haggag later argued that he had acted in self-defense, but prosecutors rejected that account and said it conflicted with the evidence and with El-Gharably's statements.

Trial and death sentences

In September 2022, a Giza criminal court sentenced both Haggag and El-Gharably to death for premeditated murder after the required consultation with Egypt's grand mufti. The religious opinion in that procedure is advisory; the criminal judgment is issued by the court.

The defendants appealed. On July 8, 2024, Egypt's Court of Cassation upheld both death sentences. Ahram Online reported that the cassation ruling was final and could not be appealed further.

Reported execution in 2025

Egyptian outlets reported in August 2025 that the sentences against Haggag and El-Gharably had been carried out. Because reporting on the execution relied on Egyptian media and statements from the victim's family and defense counsel rather than a separately located prison communique, this page attributes that final step to the published reports while treating the 2024 cassation judgment itself as the definitive judicial outcome.

Timeline

Current classification

The Murder of Shaimaa Gamal is classified Solved / Adjudicated. Haggag and El-Gharably were convicted of premeditated murder, and the final appellate court upheld those convictions and sentences. The site's wording does not convert prosecution theories or defense claims into facts beyond the court record.

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