5 Blackmailers Sentenced to Prison in Egypt After Teen’s Suicide

A court in Egypt has sentenced five people to prison over their blackmail of a high school student, 17, which led to her suicide. Three of the defendants were sentenced to 15 years in prison and two to five years in prison, The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister service Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

Basant Khaled was blackmailed late last year with digitally altered photos by a young man who she refused to go with on a date. She was bullied by her peers and even by teachers, her attorneys said. Basant reportedly swallowed an agricultural pesticide to end her life and died two days later in a hospital. She left a handwritten letter to her family saying “Mom, believe me, the girl in those pictures is not me. These pictures were photoshopped. I swear! I’m a young girl, mom, and I don’t deserve all that’s happening to me. I’m suffering from depression, and I feel like I’m suffocating. I’m really tired. It’s not me, you raised me well.”