- Ahmed Hussein Eid was attacked by three men who deemed it violated good Islamic practice for him to walk alongside his fiancee
- An Islamist vigilante organisation called Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Authority have taken responsibility for the attack
- Civil rights groups in Egypt are worried about the effects the recent victory by Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi in the presidential elections are having on the secular society.
- Women's rights organisations report of harassment of non-veil wearing women and gender separated buses
By Sara Malm
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A university student was stabbed to death after argument with religious vigilantes who attacked him for walking with his fiancee.
Three bearded men approached Ahmed Hussein Eid and his partner when they were walking in a park in Suez, Egypt and demanded they go their separate ways because they were not married, security officials said.
An argument broke out which ended with one of the men fatally stabbing the engineering student in his left thigh. He was taken to Ismailia University Hospital but later died of his injuries.
Supporters of Mohamed Morsi celebrate in front of his picture after he was declared president, but now civil rights groups are reporting worrying changes in social structure which they claim has come as a result of Morsi's victory
A group calling themselves 'Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Authority' posted on Facebook that they were responsible for the murder.
The entry read that the young man had been standing with a woman and had been adviced not to do so, Egypt Independent reported.
The post on the page of the organisation, which is a vigilante religious police seeking out those whom they deem to be violating Sharia, said the student insulted them which is why they attacked him with a knife.
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The June 25 attack has alarmed Egyptians concerned that with an Islamist president in office, vigilante groups are feeling emboldened to enforce strict Islamic mores on the streets.
The attack happened in a quiet park which is a favorite spot for young couples in Suez, according to security officials.
Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice which originated in Saudi Arabia
It has not been specified what enraged the three men, who arrived at the scene on a motorbike, but the initial testimony of the girlfriend said the men told the couple they should not be together because they were not married and must immediately leave and go their separate ways.
An argument followed and one of the three men stabbed 20-year-old Eid in the upper left thigh, near his genitals.
Suez has a strong Islamist movement and voted heavily in favor of Mohamed Morsi in the June 16-17 presidential runoff against Ahmed Shafiq,the last prime minister to serve under Mubarak.
The killing took place one day after Morsi was declared the winner.
Suez Islamic groups have denied their involvement in the attack and the leading party Muslim Brotherhood has condemned it.
The spokesperson for the Muslim Brotherhood, Mahmud Ghazlan, said: 'We condemn these acts, for they have nothing to do with Islam and we repudiate them and their perpetrator?
However, secular activists say Islamists are trying to impose their will on communities outside Cairo.
Moderate Muslims along with liberal and women's groups now worry that Mohammed Morsi's presidency will eradicate what is left of Egypt's secular traditions and change the social fabric of the mainly Muslim nation.
Some activists say Islamists already are flexing their muscles in areas outside Cairo and other main cities, taking advantage of the absence of civil society groups and lack of security in the areas.
They cite reports of efforts to persuade drivers of communal minibuses to segregate male and female passengers and women's hairdressing salons being told to get rid of male employees or? close.
Women celebrating Muslim Brotherhood's victory through Mohamed Morsi. There have been reports of women wearing full veils attacking non-veiled women on public transport
'A lot of minibuses now play Quranic recitations on their radios instead of loud popular music as it is custom,' said Ali Higris, a student from Maasarah, a working-class suburb south of Cairo.
'If Islamists are to try and take over the streets and enforce their version of Islam, they will do it in rural areas, at least initially,' Yara Sallam from Nazra, a women's rights group, said.
Civil rights groups say they have sent teams to investigate the Suez killing and establish whether Islamists were behind the attacks.
On the same day ad the attack on Eid, two musicians were murdered as they were traveling home after performing in a wedding in the Nile Delta province of Sharqiyah, officials said.
Radical Muslims consider music "haram" - prohibited - as a distraction from religious duties.
Two ultraconservative Muslims known as Salafis were arrested, but officials said it was not clear if the killings were religiously motivated.
There is no government legislation in place which states that women need to cover their hair
Thousands of residents of Abu Kibeer, the victims' hometown, protested the killings, cutting off roads and disrupting train services by sitting on the rails.
They also destroyed the local offices of a charity they suspected the culprits belonged to and torched the home of one suspect.
Some activists believe that the Brotherhood is at least quietly condoning nonviolent activity designed to bring the country more in alignment with Islam's teachings - a founding goal of the 84-year-old fundamentalist movement.
?They may not be involved but they are turning a blind eye to what their low and middle rank members do on the streets,? said Nehad Abul-Omsan of the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights.
?What they do is like test balloons for their leaders. If society stands up to what they do, then they know it is not time yet to Islamize.
'If people accept it, then they ask them to do more. What we need is a clear and public commitment to freedoms by the leaders of Islamic groups.?
About 100 activists, political parties and non-governmental groups have issued a statement calling on Morsi to protect women against what it said was growing incidents of harassment, particularly against those not wearing the Muslim veil.
Fully veiled women are also harassing women not wearing a veil or wearing colorful ones while traveling on the women-only train cars of Cairo's busy subway, according to activists monitoring women's rights.
Egypt has for more than 40 years been preoccupied with dealing with the threat posed by radicals seeking to create an Islamic state in the country.
Mubarak, backed by the U.S., used that threat to maintain tight control over the country.
Morsi, 60, has not mentioned implementing Islam's Shariah law since he narrowly won the presidential race but civil rights activists and secular groups fear the Brotherhood and its allies are closer than ever to realising the dream of an Islamic government in Egypt and are looking to Morsi to make it happen.
Morsi has promised a new dawn for Egypt, and his party has condemned the attack on the young student
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