Who was Marwa El-Sherbini?
October 1st, 2009 - 10:58 pm ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt
Dresden, Oct 1 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Marwa Ali El-Sherbini born on October 7, 1977 was an Egyptian pharmacist and the mother of a young boy. She was killed in a courtroom in Germany by the very person against whom she was testifying. She was insulted by this person for wearing the Muslim headscarf.
She was born and brought up in Alexandria. However post marriage to Elwi Ali-Okaz, a lecturer at Minufiya University, she shifted to Germany where her husband worked as a University Hospital Dresden and at a local pharmacy, as a part of an accreditation scheme to practice pharmacy in Germany.
According to sources, In August 2008, Alex W, shouted racial abuse at El-Sherbini in a public playground in Dresden, in a quarrel over the use of a swing by his niece and El-Sherbini’s son. El-Sherbini, wearing an Islamic headscarf, was called an “Islamist”, “terrorist” and “slut”. Other parents and play ground frequenters 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.
At the courtroom hearing at the regional court in Dresden, 1 July 2009, only eight people related with the case were present in the courtroom. No security personnel were present and no security measures were also not in place.
After El-Sherbini had testified, Alex W. strode across the courtroom and attacked her with a knife with an 18 cm long blade, which he had taken into the courtroom in his backpack. The 3 month pregnant El-Sherbini received multiple stab wounds and she died on the spot.
Her murder created news around the world and it became a reflecting point for Islam as well. Dalia Mogahed, director of the US-based Gallup Centre for Muslim Studies, however, contends that El-Sherbini’s murder, though “a horrific crime”, is one that “should be seen as a symptom of a deeper problem of prejudice in Germany” and not necessarily in the West as a whole. Moreover, she says, El-Sherbini’s murder does not necessarily indicate a rise in prejudice against Islam since, according to Gallup, Islamophobia in general has either been stable or is on the decline.
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Tags: accreditation scheme, bystanders, courtroom, epithets, horrific crime, islamic headscarf, marwa, multiple stab wounds, muslim headscarf, muslim studies, news around the world, niece, play ground, public playground, quarrel, racial abuse, regional court, security measures, security personnel, verbal abuse