First image released of Saudi student killed in UK stabbing

Almost a year after the fatal stabbing of Saudi student Nahid Almanea in the UK, a 16-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of murder this week.

The teenager, who was not been named, was arrested on the Salary Brook Trail in Colchester on Tuesday, the same path where Almanea was stabbed to death on June 17 last year.

A grainy CCTV image showed Almanea walking along the path before her killing. Now, the first clear image of the student has been released.

Almanea, 31, was stabbed 16 times as she walked to the University of Essex campus.

The 16-year-old boy was also arrested on suspicion of stabbing father-of-five James Attfield, 33, who was found with 102 knife wounds in Castle Park last March.

In April, Saudi officials visited Colchester for a murder briefing, according to the BBC.

Essex police had previously said there could be a link between the Nahid Almanea and James Attfield murders, but both killings were so vicious they could not tell if the same weapon was used.

Almanea had frequently walked along Salary Brook Trail to the campus with her brother, who lived with her.

But on 17 June she was alone when she was attacked. Several thousand people attended her funeral when her body was sent back for burial in Saudi Arabia.

A 52-year-old man, who was initially arrested in connection with the death, had been “positively eliminated” from inquiries.

Almanea was wearing an abaya – a black cloak worn by some Muslim women – and headscarf when she was murdered, and police are investigating the possibility she was deliberately targeted because of her religious dress.

Hate crime fears

Following the killing, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) warned of a rise in intimidation towards the community in the UK, saying that in recent months there had been an increase in the number of Muslim women that have been targeted for hate crimes.

The MCB had received reports of Muslim men and women being attacked, their houses being vandalized, and even of pigs’ heads being left outside their front doors.

“In recent months and weeks, an increasing number of Muslim women have been targeted in hate crimes,” Talha Ahmad, chair of the membership committee at the MCB told Al Arabiya News at the time.

“People are understandably very nervous and anxious… It has caused major concern,” Ahmad added.