IT WAS while Marwa el-Sherbini was in the dock that the accused strode across a Dresden courtroom and plunged a knife into her 18 times. She had been recalling how the man had insulted her for wearing a hijab after she asked him to let her son sit on a swing last year.
Her three-year-old son, Mustafa, was forced to watch as his mother slumped to the courtroom floor.
Even her husband, Elvi Ali Okaz, could do nothing as his pregnant wife was killed by the 28-year-old Russian stock controller who was being sued for insult and abuse. As Mr Okaz ran to save her he, too, was brought down, shot by a police officer who mistook him for the attacker. He is now in intensive care in a Dresden hospital.
The horrific incident that took place a week ago has attracted little publicity in Europe, and in Germany has focused more on issues of court security than the racist motivation behind the attack. But 3000 kilometres away in her native Egypt, the 32-year-old pharmacist has been named the “headscarf martyr”.
Ms Sherbini’s funeral took place in her native Alexandria on Monday in the presence of thousands of mourners and leading government figures. There are plans to name a street after her.
Ms Sherbini, a former national handball champion, and Mr Okaz, a genetic engineer who was just about to submit his PhD, had reportedly lived in Germany since 2003. They were believed to be planning to return to Egypt at the end of the year.
Unemployed Alex W. from Perm in Russia was found guilty last November of insulting and abusing Ms Sherbini, screaming “terrorist” and “Islamist whore” at her, during the Dresden park encounter. He was fined 780 euros ($1370) but had appealed, which is why he and Ms Sherbini appeared face to face in court again.
Even though he had made his anti-Muslim sentiments clear, there was no heightened security and questions remain as to why he was allowed to bring a knife into the courtroom.
The government of Angela Merkel has been criticised for its sluggish response to the attack. The general secretaries of both the Central Council of Jews and the Central Council of Muslims, Stephan Kramer and Aiman Mazyek, spoke of the “inexplicably sparse” reactions from both media and politicians.
Because it occurred days after the French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave a speech denouncing the burqa, many Egyptians believe Sherbini’s death is part of a broader trend of European intolerance towards Muslims.
Media pundits such as Abdel Azeem Hamad, the editor of the newspaper al-Shorouk, have argued that if Ms Sherbini had been Jewish the incident would have received greater attention.
‘Hijab martyr’ rally due in Cairo
‘Veiled martyr’ killer gets life – SMH – 12 Nov.09
German convicted of Muslim murder Al Jazeera 11 Nov.09
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