
IMAGE SOURCE, SPEAK UP/FACEBOOK Image caption, Speak Up, an Egyptian feminist initiative, posted the text of a letter in which Basant protested her innocence
The sister of Basant Khaled, 17, told the Youm7 news website that fake photos of her had been published when she refused to go on a date with a youth.
After they were seen by her fellow students, Basant became depressed and swallowed a poisonous pill, she said.
News of her death sparked outrage and demands for justice on social media.
The Arabic hashtag “Basant_Khaled’s_right_must_be_returned” was trending on Twitter.
Many users posted a picture of a letter that Basant reportedly wrote to her mother, in which she protested her innocence.
“Mum, I’m a young girl and I don’t deserve what is happening to me. I’m very depressed. I can’t have anymore of this. I’m tired. I’m suffocating.”
Basant’s sister said: “We believed that she was innocent and tried to support her. But she wasn’t able to endure people’s comments.”
She added: “We will not give up Basant’s right. Whoever caused her death must be punished.”
Fake images were allegedly created using photographs of Basant stolen from her mobile phone after she clicked on a link sent by the youth she had refused to date, Youm7 quoted the family’s lawyer as saying.
The lawyer filed a complaint at a police station in the town of Kafr al-Zayat, in the northern province of Gharbia, that named the youth and one other person Basant accused of involvement before she died.