Egypt minister Nabila Makram resigned because of son's murder charge in US

Politician appeared on TV to talk about the incident

Nabila Makram has increased her mental health advocacy work since her son was charged. Chris Whiteoak / The National

A former Egypt minister said she resigned from office because of the strain that was put on her family after her son's double murder charge in the US last year.

Nabila Makram, who was replaced as minister of immigration and expatriate affairs as part of a cabinet reshuffle in August, appeared on a popular pro-government talk show on Sunday to speak about the details surrounding her son, who was accused of murdering a co-worker and his friend in April last year.

Until then, she had largely remained silent about the incident.

“I decided to leave because I was a minister and I did not want my personal life to result in negative things being said about my country,” Ms Makram told Hadith El Qahira (Talk of Cairo), presented by Khairy Ramadan on the Al Qahira Wal Nas channel.

Ms Makram remained in office for about three months after the incident until “the right moment”, she said, when she was replaced by veteran diplomat Suha El Gendy.

Her son, Ramy Fahim, 27, was charged by a California court last year with offences including two murders, lying in wait and the personal use of a deadly weapon.

The circumstances of lying in wait and multiple murders would make him eligible for the death penalty if convicted, a California district attorney statement said in April.

Mr Fahim has pleaded not guilty to all charges and his defence team presented to court during his first hearing documents, saying that he has schizophrenia. His mother said on Sunday she was not aware of his condition.

He is accused of breaking into the home of co-worker Griffin Cuomo, 23, and waiting for him to return before murdering him and his roommate Jonathan Bahm, 23.

Mr Cuomo worked at Pence Wealth Management where Mr Fahim also worked as a data scientist.

Since the news of the incident first broke, the minister has increased her philanthropic work in the mental health field. She launched the Fahim Foundation at a high-profile event attended by a number of Egyptian ministers on Saturday.

During the launch, she thanked her husband and two other sons for their support.

“If the family doesn’t understand a mental illness that one of its members might [have], it becomes infinitely more difficult to treat and support them. People will deny the existence of a mental illness if they aren’t not made aware of its effects,” Ms Makram said.

Ms Makram said her husband travelled to the US to be with his son throughout his trial while she remained in Egypt.

She said her husband took with him medical documents that she says proved that her son had been diagnosed with schizophrenia — though throughout the interview, she repeatedly insisted that she was not aware of her son’s illness until the incident happened.

'Ramy is a fighter'

In November, Mr Cuomo’s mother Wendy filed a new lawsuit against Pence Wealth Management on the grounds that they hired Mr Fahim without conducting the necessary background checks and mental health assessments, which are supposed to be a matter of routine.

Mr Cuomo’s lawsuit alleged that Mr Fahim was hired through his mother’s close relationship with Laila Pence, the wealth management firm’s chief executive, which resulted in them bypassing hiring protocols.

The company allegedly ignored several employee complaints about Mr Fahim’s behaviour, which was described as violent by more than one person, Mr Cuomo’s lawyer told news outlets.

Ms Makram said that her son while growing up was a bright, introverted boy who did exceptionally well in school.

“If your audience has seen the film A Beautiful Mind, he was like that,” Ms Makram said. “Ramy is a fighter. He carried his illness within him silently for so long. He is a perfect boy, but his disease has caused these unfortunate circumstances.”

The next pretrial hearing for Ramy Fahim has been set for February 10 at the North Justice Centre in Fullerton, California.