Courtroom murder

The German chancellor is to address the issue when she meets with Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak in L'Aquila, Italy, on Friday on the sidelines of the G-8 summit currently underway there, German government spokesman Thomas Steg told reporters Wednesday.

Germany's government strongly condemned the murder, but has been unable to assuage anger in the German and Egyptian Muslim communities over what they called a flimsy government response to the incident.

Steg went on to deny claims the government had previously remained silent about the case, adding that "this repulsive crime shocks and appals us.

"This is an abhorrent deed, one that has left us all dismayed and shocked … neither right-wing extremism nor xenophobia can have a place in Germany."

He said Chancellor Angela Merkel's head of minority affairs, Maria Boehmer, had earlier voiced the government's condolences to Elwy Okaz, 32, the murdered woman's husband, and the German ambassador to Egypt had attended a memorial service for her.

Marwa el-Shirbini, 31, an Egyptian, was stabbed 18 times by a German man of Russian origin as she was about to give evidence against him in court on July 1. The killing attracted international attention particularly after the matter was addressed on TV talk shows and daily newspapers in Egypt.

Anger in Egypt

The incident led to demonstrations outside the German embassy in Cairo, with protestors accusing the West of Islamophobia. More protests are planned for coming days.

Egypt announced Wednesday it would send a state prosecutor to Germany to help with the investigation into the fatal stabbing. The assailant, identified as Axel W., had been convicted last November of insulting and abusing the woman, who was wearing a headscarf, calling her a "terrorist" and a "whore" after she asked him to let her son sit on a swing in a playground in Dresden.

Months later, as el-Sherbini was giving evidence at an appeal hearing, Axel W. leapt across the courtroom and stabbed her several times in front of her son and her husband. She was three months pregnant. Her husband was wounded attempting to fight off the attack.

"Islamophobic" crime

Aiman Mazyek, secretary general of the Central Council of Muslims, was critical of the government's initial reaction. He told German daily Der Tagesspiegel that Steg, the government spokesman, had claimed Monday the facts were unclear.

"The evidence of an Islamophobic crime is overwhelming," said Mazyek. "Caution is fine, but that sounded close to wriggling out."

A council representing Germany's four main national Islamic bodies called Wednesday for silent vigils to mark el-Shirbini's murder, saying: "Marwa's death has made us all both scared and horrified. Politicians in our country have to start dealing seriously with hatred of Islam."

The council charged that she was a victim of hate websites that had sprung up after Germany had tried to prevent teachers from wearing headscarves.

dfm/dpa/AFP
Editor: Nancy Isenson