BERLIN: The trial of a man accused of the Islamophobic murder of a pregnant Egyptian woman dubbed the veil martyr will begin on Oct. 26, the court said on Tuesday.
Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence for 28-year-old Russian-born German who they say stabbed Marwa El-Sherbini 16 times in the chest and back with an 18-cm-long (seven-inch) knife as she gave evidence against him in a Dresden court.
The alleged attacker has been identified only as Alex W.
The July killing sparked widespread outrage in Egypt and across the Muslim world with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blaming the German government and demonstrations staged outside German embassies in Tehran and Cairo.
Prosecutors said he was motivated by a pronounced hatred of non-Europeans and Muslims and that psychiatric experts had found no evidence of diminished responsibility.
The alleged murderer, who previously called the headscarf-wearing Sherbini an Islamist and a terrorist, also stabbed her geneticist husband Elwy Okaz, who was shot in the leg by confused police who took him for the attacker.
He has also been charged with Okaz s attempted murder and grievous bodily harm.
Alex W. is a Spaetaussiedler ( late emigrant ), the name given to eastern Europeans of German descent entitled to German citizenship who have settled in Dresden in large numbers. Security experts say many are affiliated with the far-right. -AFP
