DRESDEN: A man accused of killing a pregnant Egyptian woman in court in a frenzied Islamophobic attack went on trial in Germany Monday in a case that inflamed tempers throughout the Muslim world.
Prosecutors say the defendant, Alex Wiens, then 28, stabbed the veiled Marwa El-Sherbini at least 16 times in three minutes on July 1 in the same courthouse in the eastern city of Dresden where the trial opened.
Some 200 police officers were on hand as German media reported internet death threats against the Russian-born defendant, who appeared in court behind bulletproof glass.
Wiens entered in a hooded top and sunglasses, which judge Birgit Wiegand asked him to remove. He lowered the hood but kept the glasses on, prompting Wiegand to give him a ?50 ($75) fine.
She threatened him with another fine when he refused to confirm his name or place of birth.
In July, Wiens allegedly plunged an 18-centimeter (seven-inch) kitchen knife into the chest, back and arm of Sherbini, 31, three months pregnant at the time with her second child.
She bled to death at the scene watched by her son Mustafa, then three and a half, in what prosecutors say in the charge sheet was a killing motivated by “a pronounced hatred of non-Europeans and Muslims.
Egyptian media quickly dubbed her “the veil martyr . The accused is also charged with attempting to kill her husband, Elwy Okaz, who tried to come to her aid. He appeared in the court on Monday still on crutches.
“He stabbed them out of pure hatred against non-Europeans and Muslims. He wanted to annihilate them, prosecution lawyer Frank Heinrich told the court, where many people were wearing badges with a picture of El-Sherbini’s printed on them.
Court psychiatric experts say they found no evidence of diminished responsibility.
The Egyptian government Sunday demanded the maximum sentence under German law for Wiens, which is life in prison – the penalty prosecutors are seeking.
Asked what ordinary Egyptians hoped would emerge from the trial, Egypt’s ambassador to Germany, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, said: “This was a heinous crime and they are expecting justice to be administered in a swift way.
Al-Sherbini’s family appeared in Dresden as co-plaintiffs, represented by lawyers hired by Cairo, the foreign ministry said, adding that it was “confident in the German justice system’s impartiality .
Representatives from the prosecutor’s office in her hometown of Alexandria were also in the courtroom, as were Egyptian reporters.
The attack, and a slow reaction by the German media and political class, sparked accusations of neglectful handling of hate crimes against Muslims.
Berlin moved to deflect criticism, with Chancellor Angela Merkel expressing her condolences to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit later that month. Thousands rallied in Dresden in Al-Sherbini’s memory.
The case triggered anti-German protests in Egypt and Iran and sparked fears of an escalation on the scale of the bloody riots touched off by the publication in Europe of caricatures of the Prophet Mohamed in 2005.
Al-Sherbini and Wiens met in August 2008, when she asked him to clear a playground swing where he sat smoking a cigarette so her son Mustafa could use it. He refused, calling Al-Sherbini an “Islamist , a “terrorist and a “whore.
She pressed charges for defamation and he was fined ?780. An appeal against the conviction brought them together again in July.
After Sherbini testified and left the witness stand, he allegedly pulled the knife he had smuggled into the courtroom and stabbed her and then Okaz, who was shot in the leg by a confused guard who apparently took him for the attacker.
Sherbini worked as a pharmacist while her husband is a geneticist working on his doctorate in Dresden.
The unemployed Wiens, who arrived in Germany from Perm in the Urals in 2003, reportedly struggled with bouts of depression.
“In this trial we will try to get to the bottom of the circumstances surrounding the death of a young woman who was deeply integrated in her family and society, the judge said on Monday.
A verdict is expected Nov. 11.
