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The killing of Marwa el-Sherbini provoked outrage among Muslims for its sheer brutality and brazenness. According to witnesses, the pregnant mother was stabbed to death in front of a courtroom full of people in Germany by a man with an apparently deep-seated hatred of Muslims. Thousands marched in Egypt, Iran and other Muslim countries against what they perceived as a disturbing rise of Islamophobia and racism in Germany as well as the scant attention the attack received in the German media.

Now, four months later, the trial of el-Sherbini’s alleged killer is being closely watched by Muslims across the world — not to mention Germany’s 4 million–strong Muslim community — amid fears that anything but a severe punishment for the defendant, an unemployed Russian émigré identified only as Alex W., could spark more unrest. In Egypt, where el-Sherbini has been dubbed by the media as the “headscarf martyr,” people are expecting “justice to be administered in a swift way,” Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, Egypt’s ambassador to Germany, told al-Jazeera.

The trial began on Oct. 26 in the same courthouse in Dresden where the killing took place. The 28-year-old defendant wore a cap, a dark blue hooded top and sunglasses to conceal his face as he was led into the courtroom, flanked by police officers, and seated behind a screen of bulletproof glass. Prosecutors then described how el-Sherbini, 31, was attacked. The pharmacist had appeared in court on July 1 to testify in a hearing against Alex W., who was appealing an earlier conviction for defaming el-Sherbini by calling her an “Islamist” and a “terrorist” on a playground. Prosecutors say that after el-Sherbini’s testimony, Alex W. lunged at her with a 7-in. kitchen knife he had smuggled into court and stabbed her at least 16 times. Her husband, Elwy Okaz, 32, was also repeatedly stabbed before being shot by a police officer who mistook him for el-Sherbini’s attacker. El-Sherbini, who was three months pregnant at the time, bled to death in front of the couple’s 3-year-old son. More…

Author: Tristana Moore / Berlin
Photo Credit: Ralf Hirschberger / Reuters