Egyptian woman killed in German court for being veiled
It's been too long since Egyptian bloggers came together under the same opinion. But the new hate crime that took place in Germany against a Muslim Egyptian woman, Marwa El Sherbini, was one good reason for them to unite again, condemning international media for ignoring such incidents against Muslims in the West.
The story goes back to August 2008, when Marwa filed a defamation case against her killer, Axel, a 28-year unemployed German, after he called her a “terrorist” because she wears the hijab (Islamic veil).
However last Wednesday, Alex stabbed her 18 times to death in a German courtroom after the judges announced she won the case against him, and that he had to pay 2,800 Euros as a fine for his previous insults.
Marwa, 32-year-old Egyptian, was the wife of an Egyptian academic, who was on a scholarship in Germany. Her husband was also hurt in the incident and is now in critical condition in hospital, between life and death.
Zeinobia expressed her anger in a post titled “What If She Were A Lesbian“, and said:
The woman is 32 years Marwa El-Sherbini , she was a pregnant in her second child when she was was stabbed.
[…]
This is for sure a hate crime but unlike other hate crimes like homophobic crimes or anti-Semitic crimes, it did not make the headlines abroad and I do not know why !! This is a racism crime , a woman isshot downstabbed like that so simple in the court room for God sake and it is not important to be covered in the media as it should !! She was a mother who was a pregnant for God sake !!
May Allah bless her soul , she is a martyr of racism and hate.
Ahmed esmat questioned on Twitter
The same thought was echoed by Hisham Maged on his blog, playing the What if game:
Let us play the What IF game, just imagine if the situation was reversed and the victim was a westerner who was stabbed anywhere in the world or -God Heaven- in any Middle Eastern country by Muslim extremists, or even what the media used to call ‘minorities’ in Egypt! You definitely would have heard the world’s buzzing and the internet goes down too!
Bikya Masr, who was closely following the incident, asked if Marwa can be the symbol to bring people together. He demanded an immediate action on the diplomatic and national levels:
Across the Middle East, anger is high. This anger, however, cannot fall into random diatribes against Germans, or Germany. It must maintain some semblance of coherence for any campaign that should be established to succeed. And it will if Sherbini truly is a symbol that can bring people together much like Neda in Iran did.
[…]
Do people believe Sherbini is a symbol? […] Egyptians should be outraged that a woman was verbally abused for wearing the veil and being Egyptian in the first place. The government should be sending a strong signal to Europe that this behavior is unacceptable, but they remain silent. That leaves it to the Egyptian population to take action.
[…]
Let us walk the streets in front of the German Embassy and demand a full investigation and report. Because if Germany cannot do this, then it once more proves that European hate for Muslims and Arabs is stronger than their so-called “freedom.” Yes, Marwa is a symbol, but she should be a symbol to bring people together, not divide them.
Another blogger Sadafat wrote:
يجب ان تعلن الحكومة الألمانية ان هذا التصرف يمس المسلمين، يجب ان تضع في دستورها للغالبية الثانية من الديانيات وهم المسلمين حقوقا تحفظهم من العداء ضد الإسلام.
The German government should know that this act affects Muslims, and should put in its constitution for the second majority of its religions, who are Muslims, that their rights protect them from hatred towards Islam.
Egyptian bloggers commenting or venting out their frustrations on Twitter.
As for myself, I found myself writing these lines on my blog Lasto Adri:
لا أتوقع من الغرب -ذاته- أقل من أى يلغى من كل معاجمه فكرة أن المسلمين إرهابيين، ويؤمن أن بن لادن وأعوانه -مثلا- لا يمثلون العرب أو المسلمين فى شئ، وأفعالهم كلها فردية!
وعلى رأى المثل.. لا تعايرنى ولا أعايرك.. دا التعصب طايلنى وطايلك!
As the proverb says: Don't blame me for something you do too. We both have the same “extremism”.
160 comments
Here’s a blog post in German that cites and links to some of the coverage in the mainstream German media. The case is indeed tragic, and it is being taken seriously, at least by the police authorities. Interesting, though, that the chancellor has not commented. Maybe she hasn’t figured out the attention that the case is apparently getting in Egypt. And maybe this is a case of the CDU downplaying Fremdenangst (fear of foreigners). I don’t know, because I’m a bit out of touch with the current atmosphere, not having lived there since the beginning of the decade.
It is an Open Terrorism in Germany of Killing a Muslim Woman by a German. And no action has Taken by German Government against this Jewish Terrorist.
Where were the International Human Organizations at that Incident.
It shows that the real terrorists are westren peoples+Governments.
From,
Pakistan.
The prosecutor, Avenarius, has insisted (the lady doth protest too much?) that the murderer is not tied to any group or organization: a lone man acting alone. Mark, I understand that to mean that, yes, authorities will take pains to downplay Fremdenangst if it’s raised as a broader, societal problem.
ان المانيا بلدا في دستوره الديانة الرئيسية هي المسيحية فان المانيا لاتهتم الا بشعبها المسيحي ولاتهتم بالشعب الاسلامي او اليهودي
Germanterror.blogspot.com
Sign the pettition and lets move on to action.
Thanks
This is crazy! And yes it should get more attention. Where were the guards while she was being stabbed 18 times in a courtroom for God’s sake!
والله يا جماعة لو واحد مسلم فى اوروبا قتل قطة بالخطأ لقامت جميع جمعيات حقوق الأنسان و الحيوان بل و النبات ايضاً و يعتقدون انهم فى اوروبا من الدول المتقدمة بل و يطبقون الديمقراطية المضحك هنا انهم عاوزين الديمقراطية اللى على مزاجهم و بس وأى حاجة تانية لآ الشهيدة مروة مثلاً لو لم تفعل ما فعلت و سكتت عن حقها و الساكت عن الحق شيطان اخرس لكانت حية ترزق بيننا الان ولكن مروة الشربينى بكل المقاييس مثالية لكل ما هو مثالى دافعت عن نفسها و عن دينها اعتقد و الله اعلم ان هذا هو اعظم انواع الجهاد فى سبيل الله انها الآن فى دار الحق و نحن فى دار الباطل مروة على حق و ما فعلته هو الصواب و اعتقد لو ان رها احياها مرة اخرى لفعلت ما فعلت مرات و مرات و السبب انها مؤمنة ومحبة لله و لرسوله وماتت على هذا انها شهيدة حية عند ربها تفتقد ابنهاوتفتقد كل من احبتهم فى الدنيا و ستشفع لهم يوم العرض
وأخيراً لا يسعنا ان نقول لا آله الا الله سيدنا و ملانا محمد رسول الله
Very, very sad story, but I don’t think this is something that exemplifies anything other than a very deranged individual who acted violently. According to a couple of articles I read, there was another court killing in Germany in April. On that occasion a man shot his sister-in-law before shooting himself. This was not a big story either. At least Germany is a country where a woman can have a verbal assault against her tried in court and laws actually criminalize hate speech. That is not to say that everybody lives together harmoniously, but you can run into crazy dangerous people in all societies.
The point being emphasized is not that Marwa got stabbed by a criminal, but she was stabbed 18 times in a courtroom in the presence of police. Her husband was quicker to challenge the man and got stabbed by the man and shot by the police! This is an obvious case of conspiracy to kill, and to make matters worse it was down played, few big media houses reported it; the same media houses that were rolling over an opportunity to stab the heart of IRAN over NEDA!
I don’t give any special credit to Germany for allowing the trial of this racist man. Laws exist in most countries that do not permit verbal assaults and harassments to individuals. What I do not understand is that how can someone get into court with a knife or a gun as in the other case? How can someone stab another person in court 18 times without police getting involved?
if this was a westerner killed by a lone man it wuld ve been considered a terrorist attack and the whole world wuld be mourning. and it wuld ve probably become an excuse to attack another country. but since its a muslim woman dying they are calling it a lone attack. well i think the ppl who r doing this kind of acts are terrorists too lone or in a group. and this should be taken very seriuosly so noone else does this kind of an act again