In August,2008, Alex W., (a German citizen, born in Perm, Russia but claiming German ethnic origin) shouted abuse at El-Sherbiny in a public playground for children in Dresden, in a quarrel over the use of a swing by his niece and El-Sherbini's son. El-Sherbiny, wearing an Islamic headscarf, was called an ‘Islamist’, ‘terrorist’ and ‘slut’. Others present tried to intervene, but Alex W. continued the verbal abuse for several minutes until the police arrived at the scene, directing epithets in Russian and German at the Russian-speaking bystanders who tried to reason with him.
Alex W. was charged with defamation, pressed by El-Sherbiny as any civilized and rational person would do, and found guilty by the district court of Dresden, issuing a fine of 780 Euro. During the trial Alex W. claimed mitigating circumstances for the act of insulting El-Sherbiny, suggesting that ‘people like her’ were not real humans and therefore cannot be insulted. The Public Prosecutor successfully appealed the verdict to achieve a higher conviction due to the openly xenophobic character of the incident. .
At the appeal hearing at the regional court in Dresden, 1 July 2009, eight persons were present in the courtroom: a panel of one professional and two lay judges, the prosecutor, Alex W. as the defendant, his defense counsel, El-Sherbiny as witness for the prosecution, and her husband and son as observers. No security personnel was present and no security searches of individuals and their possessions were carried out, common in cases without anticipated security concerns and with no persons under arrest present.
After El-Sherbiny had testified, Alex W. strode across the courtroom and attacked her with a knife with an 18 cm (7 in) long blade, which he had taken into the courtroom in his backpack. El-Sherbiny received multiple stab wounds to the upper body and arm (at least 16). During the attack Alex W. was allegedly shouting ‘You don't deserve to live!’ While trying to protect his wife, El-Sherbini's husband Elwy Ali-Okaz was also stabbed. A police officer, who was in the court building testifying in an unrelated case was called to the scene to intervene, but mistook Elwy Ali-Okaz for the attacker and shot him in the lower leg. A criminal investigation against the police officer was ongoing as of 25 August 2009.
Marwa El-Sherbiny died on the scene, succumbing to her injuries. Alex W. was arrested on the scene.
Elwy Ali-Okaz, Marwa's husband, critically wounded in the stabbing attack, was in a coma for two days. He subsequently received physical therapy for several weeks in a hospital near Dresden for the stabbing and shooting injuries. Mustafa, son of Marwa was present in the court room. German officials rejected to hand over son to Egyptian embassy and set him to an orphanage after incident.
Marwa’s family had known about the murder 2 days later, through a friend in Germany, and not through the Egyptian embassy in Germany. Tarek ElSherbiny Says Germany has responded poorly to his sister's murder
Alex W. was held on remand on suspicion of murder of Marwa El-Sherbiny and attempted murder of Elwy Ali Okaz. He was formally charged with murder, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, attempted murder and grievous bodily harm by the public prosecutor's office on 25 August 2009. Prosecutors cited hate against non-Europeans and Muslims as the motive, perfidiousness as a qualifying feature for the murder charge, and full criminal responsibility as the result of a psychiatric evaluation. His trial has been tentatively scheduled to begin on 26 October 2009 .
Elwy Ali Okaz is intending to act in the role of co-plaintiff for the trial.. As of 25 August 2009 Alex W. had made no statement to investigators. An application for a change of venue by W.'s defense lawyer was refused by the upper regional court (Oberlandesgericht).
Media & Public reaction
Initial Media Reports in Germany
The killing was reported very briefly on 1 July 2009 in German radio and television, and in print media on the following day. The first news agency reports on the murder of Marwa al-Sherbiny informed the German public that a defendant had murdered a witness in the district court of Dresden. The reason was a quarrel in a children's playground.
No mention that the witness was a Muslim woman. No mention that the playground quarrel had culminated in the defendant shouting at the woman "Islamist", "Muslim bitch" and "terrorist". The German press reported on the case on the back page and fell into silence. A few days later it was awakened by thousands of Egyptians who protested vociferously against the "Islamophobic" of the Germans. So, the German federal government, which had kept silent for nearly a week, found words of sorrow. And journalists started to write long articles about the astonishing reactions in Egypt.
The Minister of Justice for Saxony, Geert Mackintosh, who had visited the crime scene on the same day, publicly expressed condolence to the ‘young woman and her family’. Another politician called for an investigation and the Association of Judges in Saxony (Sächsischer Richter bund) demanded a review of security procedures in court buildings.
Chancellor Angela Merkel conveyed her condolence in person to the Egyptian president, Husny Mubarak in the G8 summit in Italy, a response which is considered as “too late , and had it not been for the worldwide Muslims’ outraged reaction , this response wouldn’t have been elicited” .
Response by Muslim and Jewish Bodies
The Central Council of Muslims in Germany suggested that the death of El-Sherbiny was a result of a growing Islamophobic, evident in many Internet discussion boards. They called upon Muslims not to instrumentalise the woman's death. Egyptian researchers at the University of Dresden stated they had not been subject to discrimination and that they see the killing as an isolated incident.
The General Secretaries of Germany's Muslim and Jewish Councils visited El-Sherbini's husband in hospital on 6 July 2009. Stephan Kramer, General Secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany stated: ‘You don't have to be Muslim to oppose anti-Muslim behavior, and you don't have to be Jewish to oppose anti-Semitism. We must stand together against such inhumanity.’ Kramer later wrote ‘... as a Jew I know that anyone who attacks a person because of their race, nationality or religion is not only attacking the minority, they are attacking democratic society as a whole.‘ and deplored ‘largely unchecked hate propaganda against Muslims’, above all by the far-right scene.
A local Islamic association in Dresden (Islamisches Kultur- und Erziehungszentrum Dresden e.V.) stated that their planned centre for cultural exchange will be named after El-Sherbiny, to promote mutual understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims.
Prayers and Public Memorial Ceremony
On 6 July 2009, about 2,000 Muslims of the Egyptian community and other nationalities in Germany held funeral prayers for El-Sherbiny, in Dar Al-Salam Mosque, in Berlin.
On 11 July, a public memorial, organized by local civil rights groups, was attended by more 1,000 people, including the Egyptian ambassador and officials from the state of Saxony. White roses and photos of the victim and her family were placed outside Dresden's City Hall.
The “Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics”, where El-Sherbini’s husband researches, had issued a statement on the occasion of the official ceremony, expressing shock and sympathy. This was preceded by the Max Planck Society having strongly condemned the attack on 8 July, stating: ‘The fact that the attack was racially motivated is especially distressing to us, considering that the Max Planck Society is a scientific research organization with staff members from the most various nations.’
International reaction
Response in Egypt
The death of El-Sherbiny grasped considerable public and media attention in Egypt [, accompanied by strong anti-xenophobic sentiments. Egypt's Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmud announced that a prosecutor from Alexandria was to be dispatched to Germany to assist in the investigations.
On 6 July 2009, at El-Sherbini's funeral, in Alexandria, mourners referred to her as a martyr of the head scarf, and accused Germany of racism and Islamophobic. Mourners carried banners criticizing both German and Egyptian authorities' reaction to the crime.
Response elsewhere
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed the German government for El-Sherbini's murder and called for international condemnation of Germany. In a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad demanded firm action against Germany and stated that. In his letter, the president had stated that the death of al-Sherbiny has caused “a pain in the hearts” of people around the world and created many “ambiguities in their mind”. Iran issued a commemorative set of stamps to honor Marwa.
In Karachi, Jamaat-e-Islami Women Wing staged protest demonstration against the killing of Marwa .
The protest demonstration was held outside the Karachi Press Club. Activists of JI women wing were carrying her portrait .Speaking at the protest demonstration, JI Karachi Chief, Mohammad Hussein Mehanti, demanded of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and United Nation to take the notice of the killing of Muslim woman in German court. He further demanded the OIC and UN to take the measures to save the Muslim women residing in the West and to give strict punishment to the killer of Marwa El-Sherbiny.