Times Online | 11 November 2009

Life sentence for killer of ‘veil martyr’ Marwa al-Sherbini

Alexander Wiens has tried to hide his identity after a Fatwa was issued against him. (Matthias Rietschel/Reuters)

A Russian-born immigrant who stabbed to death a pregnant Muslim woman as she gave evidence against him in court was today given Germany’s highest possible sentence for murder — 15 years’ jail with no chance of early parole.

The case has enraged the Arab world and in particular Egypt, where 31-year-old pharmacist Marwa al-Sherbini grew up.

Street demonstrators and commentators have blamed Germany for encouraging Islamophobia. The victim has been hailed as a martyr for her faith, a so-called “veil martyr”, because she had stood up against the taunts of the 28-year-old assailant, Alexander Wiens.

A fatwa has been pronounced on Mr Wiens and as a result the trial in Dresden was held under extraordinary security conditions, with the whole courthouse cleared and 200 armed police encircling the room.

“We find you bear a particularly heavy burden of guilt,” said Judge Birgit Wiegand. The phrase is German legal language indicating that Mr Wiens will not be considered for early release. Fifteen years constitutes a life sentence.

“We are very satisfied with the verdict,” said Ramzy Ezzedin Ramzy, Egypt’s ambassador to Berlin, “the maximum sentence was demanded and the maximum sentence was awarded.”

The ambassador has been attending the trial with a high powered team of Egyptian lawyers, and some 20 Arab journalists have been following the proceedings.

Hossam Zaki, an Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman, said: “The verdict, the maximum punishment under German law, serves justice and is considered a warning to those motivated by hate.”

The German authorities were determined to make the trial as transparent as possible and thus head off protests in Egypt. Demonstrators in Alexandria, the birthplace of Ms Al-Sherbini and her husband Elwi Okaz, have been calling for the death sentence for Wiens and the fear in Berlin was that protests could spread. There have been demonstrations about the case in Pakistan and Iran.

The case began with a modest but nasty confrontation last year on a childrens’ playground in Dresden. Alexander Wiens was sitting on a child’s swing. Ms Al-Sherbini, who was wearing a head-scarf, asked him to move so that she could push her three-year-old boy.

Mr Wiens, a Russian of ethnic German origin who had emigrated from Siberia in 2003, started to yell at her, accusing her of being an “Islamist” and a “terrorist”. Ms Al-Sherbini decided to press charges for slander and the man was duly fined. But he challenged the judgment and demanded his day in court.

By the time the case came to court last July, Ms Al-Sherbini was three months pregnant. She brought her husband, Elwy Okaz, a microbiologist, and her young son along for support. But the killer removed a long knife from under his jacket and stabbed the woman 18 times.

Her husband tried to stop the frenzied attack but was stabbed 16 times himself. When a policeman eventually arrived he misread what was going on and shot the husband in the leg rather than the assailant.

The whole scene was witnessed by the three-year-old son.

“He was convinced that all foreigners were taking work away from him,” said Judge Wiegand. “Above all, he hated Muslims. In his eyes they were all Islamists. The fact that he himself came of foreign origin is something that he repressed.” Ethnic Germans from Russia and elsewhere have an almost automatic right to become German citizens.

Wiens had admitted the killing, in testimony read out by his lawyer, but denied that the motivation was racist. Instead, the defence team tried to establish that the killer was not responsible for his actions. A document sent by the Moscow state prosecutor suggested that Wiens had been turned down for military service in the Russian army because he was suffering from schizophrenia. The court, however, over-ruled this new evidence, stating that a German court psychiatrist had already pronounced the man fit to stand trial and capable of recognising his guilt.

The verdict was read in the presence of the widower who is still walking on crutches.

Related:

Alexander Wiens, killer of pregnant Egyptian woman, Marwa al-Sherbini, gets life sentence
“It’s clear that his motive was hatred for Muslims,” [prosecutor Frank] Heinrich told the panel of judges. “Like a maniacal, cold-blooded killer, he started stabbing the woman and her husband, who was trying to protect her.”

Dresden courtroom stabbing trial opens in high security bubble

German Media Ignore Racist Stabbing of Woman, while Criticising Muslim Grief and Anger