The death of this Egyptian student in Germany may have been a hate crime

New information has surfaced concerning the hit-and-run accident that took the life of 22-year-old Egyptian national Shaden Mohamed.

Mohamed, an engineering student at the German University in Cairo, was hit by a car in eastern Germany on April 15 and died from the  sustained injuries three days later.

Ten days after the accident, witnesses came forward to report seeing passengers in the perpetrator's car laughing and spewing racist insults at the victim as the car drove away from the scene.

Mohamed was hit by the car after stepping off a curb attempting to cross the street in the German city of Cottbus, where she had been preparing for her senior project.

Primary investigations indicated that the perpetrator was driving over the speed limit and that he had not consumed any alcohol, according to German media outlets. 

Mohamed died at the hospital three days after the accident; authorities began investigating the driver for possibly causing death by negligence. But, according to witnesses, the crime did not end there.

"The accident was shocking, but what followed afterwards was cruel," a witness told German N-TV.  

Two witnesses said that after the car struck Mohamed, the perpetrator slowly drove away while the other passengers broke out in laughter, one of whom began yelling at the victim.

"Go back to where you came from, then you won't get run over. Damn refugees," the witnesses recalled the passenger saying, according to Reuters.

Reuters reported that in light of the witnesses' statements, the spokesman for the prosecutor's office Horst Nothbaum announced that they have launched an investigation into "possible incitement to racial hatred". 

But Nothbaum maintained that there was no evidence suggesting that the driver had intentionally run over the victim. 

The investigation was endorsed by the education minister in the state that includes Cottbus, who said that foreign students, teachers and researchers are vital to the state.

"It would be a shame if these allegations are proven true," the minister said in a statement. "It is unfathomable and appalling that a young, fatally injured woman would be insulted in such a racist and xenophobic way in the middle of Cottbus."

Germany is no stranger to such incidents. Anti-immigrant sentiment has been on the rise since the arrival of some 890,000 asylum seekers in 2015. Earlier this week, German authorities announced that violent crimes with far-right motives increased by 14.3 percent in 2016. 

Friends and fellow students took to social media to support and comfort Mohamed's family and friends, sharing heartfelt messages mourning her loss.

They also set up a page to collect donations in her memory, with the aim to provide some houses with access to water and electricity.