One of the most bizarre cases in the Arab world involves Amira Ben Ahmed, an energy expert at the center of a major public controversy in both Egypt and Tunisia. Amira, who started working for one of the largest airlines in the Arab world in the Emirates in early 2013, eventually settled there. During her time in the Emirates, she met a variety of people and became deeply fascinated by energy science. She believed that every person harbors negative energy, which can be controlled and transformed into positive energy.
Amira's passion for this subject led her to seek out energy experts, as well as palm readers and tarot card readers to learn about her future. She traveled extensively to meet specialists in these fields and spent significant sums of money on sessions aimed at teaching her how to manage her energy and eliminate negativity.
In 2017, she met Omar, a young Egyptian man working in the Emirates, who proposed to her. Despite being older than him, Amira accepted. Omar had no objections to her yoga and meditation practices. In early 2020, Amira discovered she was pregnant and was overjoyed, as she had always wanted to be a mother. However, after giving birth, her life took a strange turn. She began claiming that she could see things others could not and predict future events, attributing these abilities to her mastery of energy sciences acquired through meditation.
Amira became deeply involved in studying energy sciences, even attending a workshop in Italy at one of the largest centers specializing in this field, where she obtained certification as a professor in energy sciences. She subsequently opened a center in the Emirates, offering services such as tarot readings and astrology, later expanding to include music and meditation therapy. By 2023, Amira Ben Ahmed had become a regular guest on television programs in the Emirates.
When Omar received a lucrative job offer in Egypt, Amira welcomed the move, recognizing the country's growing interest in energy science. She had previously visited Egypt several times to attend workshops on energy therapy, including one in 2021. Eventually, she opened a meditation and music therapy center in Egypt, where she offered sessions featuring unusual music and devices. Participants often reported feeling the presence of a third person during these sessions, and Amira claimed to communicate with entities only she could see or hear.
Amira's mental state deteriorated after attending a workshop near the pyramids in October, led by an Italian expert. During a session with 15 participants, the expert singled out Amira, asking her to close her eyes while he performed specific movements and touched certain points on her body. When she opened her eyes, she felt as if she had entered a different reality. She later claimed to have seen visions of Jesus and Moses, who told her she was chosen and had miraculous abilities. When she asked the expert why he had chosen her, he gave no answer. From that moment, Amira began conversing with beings that no one else could see, seeking their guidance on all matters. She saw a distorted image of herself in the mirror and later received a message from the Italian expert claiming that he had created her. When she rejected his statement, he changed his claim, saying he was the awaited Mahdi and that she had a divine mission to fulfill. Amira began to feel as if she were the Virgin Mary (may God forgive her).
A year later, Amira confided in her husband that she had seen visions of Moses and Jesus. Omar, believing she was delusional, dismissed her words as mere psychological issues. Amira, however, felt increasingly superior to others and began distrusting her husband, fearing he might harm her because he was not one of the chosen ones.
One night at their home in Rehab City, Amira asked her husband to leave her alone for a meditation session. An hour later, Omar heard strange noises and rushed to find Amira holding scissors and injuring herself in the neck and chest area. She claimed it was her time to die and that she was being commanded by someone her husband couldn’t see. In a panic, Omar called an ambulance, only to discover their daughter, Rana, had been strangled, with clear bruising around her neck. Amira was taken to the hospital under security supervision after confessing to killing her daughter.
After regaining consciousness, she told security personnel that during her meditation, she saw full apparitions of Moses and Jesus, who informed her that she was the Virgin Mary and that she had been chosen to ascend to heaven, taking only those she loved with her, leaving the wicked behind. She believed her husband was one of the wicked, so she decided to strangle her daughter to spare her from suffering. She was distraught that her husband had saved her, insisting that everything she did was following divine orders. Amira maintained to the security officers that she was indeed the Virgin Mary.
After a thorough examination, it was determined that Amira was of sound mind and not suffering from any mental disorders. Investigations into one of the strangest cases in the Arab world are still ongoing.