Lobna Yakout is a British-born girl who came to Egypt over a decade ago to work as an English teacher.
(Lobna Yakout)
In 2014, Yakout married a man named Karim Selim. He came from a wealthy family, graduated from Egypt’s most prestigious private university, the American University in Cairo (AUC), and worked as a teacher at an international school. He also created a TikTok channel to teach American English and share educational experiences. 
(Karim)
A year after their marriage, they had a son named Zain, and the family of three lived in Cairo, Egypt.
However, shortly after Zain was born, Karim seemed to change into a different person, becoming irritable and prone to physical abuse, often beating Yakout without reason…
Yakout lived a life that was less than human, nearly being killed several times, and finally in 2020, she made the decision to leave him with their then 5-year-old son, Zain.
At the time, Egyptian law did not criminalize domestic violence, so Yakout could not file charges against Karim; she could only hide silently and distance herself from him.
(Yakout and Zain)
But within a year, Karim found her and began to threaten her and her family.
In 2021, Karim and Zain had a short meeting as planned, but Karim took Zain away and hid him, which was tantamount to kidnapping. Since then, Yakout has not seen Zain.
Before handing Zain over to Karim, Yakout had a premonition; she told Zain, “If you are taken away from me, come find me.”
But Zain remains missing to this day…
Within a year, Yakout was forced to flee Cairo because Karim continuously harassed and threatened her. Once, Karim even roamed around her residence with a knife for four days, forcing her to disguise herself to evade him, and she fled abroad overnight by plane.
(Zain)
After leaving Egypt, Yakout started her own life, barely hearing any news about Karim.
Little did she know, the next time she heard his name, he had been given a series of sensational nicknames by Egyptian media—”The New Cairo Executioner,” “The Woman Butcher”…
This May, Yakout received a call from Egyptian investigators saying that Karim had been arrested on suspicion of murdering three women.
At first, Yakout didn’t believe it, thinking it was a trap set by Karim to find her and drag her back into the nightmare…
But a few days later, Karim’s story made the newspapers… The bloody and brutal crimes shook all of Egypt.
(Karim and Yakout)
It turns out that on June 30th this year, Cairo police discovered the naked body of an unidentified woman on a highway in Port Said Province.
The prosecutor ordered fingerprint collection and an autopsy of the victim’s body. After an investigation, they finally identified the victim and the main suspect as Karim.
Reports stated that Karim brought the victim to his residence to take drugs and then killed her while she was intoxicated, subsequently disposing of the body using his car…
During the interrogation, Karim admitted to frequently meeting with women and bringing them to his home to commit crimes. Upon checking his phone, they found videos of sexual acts with this victim and other women.
The police found videos of another victim on Karim’s two phones; the body of this woman was also found on a highway in Ismailia Province on June 30th, with the marks on the body in the video matching those on the victim’s corpse…
The prosecution reviewed other unidentified body cases and soon discovered a case from 2023 in Cairo’s First Settlement area that had a similar modus operandi, with the victim defined as “the third victim.”
Subsequent forensic reports confirmed that the third victim had the same drugs in her system as those used by Karim.
All three victims had anesthetics in their bodies and similar torture marks, including fatal strangulation marks and whip injuries, with one having Karim’s fingerprints on her. Phone records and geographic data also showed that Karim and the victims were at his residence during the murders…
Karim was accused of torturing, killing, and abusing three women’s bodies from November 2023 to May 2024, as well as suspected drug possession and human trafficking.
The crimes took place in a specially constructed soundproof room in his upscale Cairo residence, where he engaged in sexual activities with the women before and after killing them—note the “after”—and recorded these acts on video.
(Karim in court)
According to “Al-Ahram” and “Al-Araby Al-Jadeed,” Karim told the police that there were more victims, and the case is still under investigation… At least four victims have been confirmed so far.
After the case was exposed, Karim was dubbed “The New Cairo Serial Killer,” “The Tagamoa Serial Killer,” “The New Cairo Butcher,” and “The Woman Butcher”… In August, Karim Selim was convicted of multiple murders in Egypt. Yakout, who lived with him for six years, now feels chills thinking back…
Karim deserved to go to prison, but the pain he left for Yakout has not ended; she is still searching for her son Zain, whom she hasn’t seen in over three years…
According to news reports, Zain was born in Michigan, where many of Karim’s family members reside. After Karim’s arrest, Zain was handed over to Karim’s mother and is likely in the U.S. currently… The U.S. Embassy in Egypt has not made any public statements.
Whether mother and son will have a reunion day remains unknown…
