Pregnant Egyptian woman stabbed to death in Germany as a result of veil

Egyptian woman stabbed to death in Germany as a result of veil
Bikya Masr
3 July 2009

CAIRO: A German man outside of a Dresden, Germany, courtroom stabbed a 32-year-old Egyptian woman to death on Wednesday after she had won a defamation case against the man, Egypt’s Youm El Saba’a newspaper reported late Thursday. According to security sources in the German city, Marwa Al Sherbini, was stabbed.

Local news reported that Sherbini was three-months pregnant at the time. Her husband, who was finishing a scholarship at a German institute in genetics, was also shot outside the court, moments after the verdict had been handed down.

Reports say police shot him accidentally. It is unclear his status, with some reporting he was killed and others saying he is in critical condition.

Sherbini had filed a case against her killer, Alex, a 28-year unemployed German of Russian descent, in August 2008, after he had called her a “terrorist” on a Dresden street because she wears the higab – the Islamic headscarf that covers the hair.

He was fined 2,800 Euros for the insulting remarks.

The murder comes as Europe is in the midst of a battle over what Muslim women can wear. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said recently that the Niqab – the full covering of the face – is “not welcome in France.

The body will be flown back to Egypt for the burial and while the Egyptian foreign condemned the incident, the Egyptian Ambassador to Germany attempted to downplay the incident.

In a statement to Youm El Saba’a, Ramzy Ezz El Din denied the murder was part of a an organized hate movement against Arabs and Muslims, calling the murder “a regular incident, as terrorism exists all over the world.”

As of Friday morning, no foreign news outlet had reported on the incident.

BM

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See also:

Woman killed in courtroom bloodbath was pregnant - The Local

Egyptian woman killed in German court drama - Independent Online