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CCTV footage released by police shows Nahid walking to university shortly before her murder.

The father of Nahid Almanea, a scholarship student who was brutally killed in Colchester on June 17, said he would take legal action against Al-Jouf University for forcing his daughter to study abroad to keep her post of lecturer.

“I will file a lawsuit against those who forced my daughter to study abroad,” said Nasser Al-Zaid in comments published by sabq.org electronic newspaper on Wednesday. “I believe that Al-Jouf University was one of the reasons for Nahid’s death as it imposed an arbitrary system on her.”

Al-Zaid called for the cancellation of the system that lecturers should attend foreign studies to keep their post and that they would be transferred to administrative jobs if they failed to comply with the condition.

“Nahid was an energetic and hardworking student,” said Al-Zaid, adding that her scientific works had been published in the US. Nahid had obtained her master’s degree from Taibah University in Madinah. She had contacted her family in Al-Jouf three days before death.

“When she got the job of a lecturer at Al-Jouf University they insisted that the employment would be on condition of pursuing higher studies abroad. Two years later, we received a letter from the university saying she must go abroad for studies or change to an administrative job,” Al-Zaid said.

He said he had never sought a foreign scholarship for Nahid and agreed to it only after the university threatened that she would be transferred to the administration department. “Nahid was not happy when she received that threatening letter as she had no intention to go abroad for higher studies.”

Asked about the university’s decision to institute an international prize in Nahid’s name, Al-Zaid said: “We have rejected that proposal and asked them to establish an academic chair or dedicate a university hall in her name instead. However, they have said that the academic chair requires financing.”

Meanwhile, detectives continued their investigation to track down Nahid’s killer. They have issued an appeal for a man who may have stalked the student four days before she was stabbed to death to come forward. Essex police said they wanted to speak to a man identified by witnesses as walking behind two women at about 8.45 a.m. on June 13. Witnesses believe that one of these women could have been Nahid.

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