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 is shot down stabbed 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

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:

لو أن يهوديا أصيب بكلمة أو مزحة ثقيلة في ألمانيا لأقامت رئيسة الوزراء الدنيا ولم تقعدها ولتنادت فوكس نيوز وسكاي نيوز بالدفاع عن العنصر السامي واعلان الحرب على اعداء السامية، وأما الأخت المصرية هذه فلا بواكي لها.
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.
If a Jew was hurt, in Germany, even with a word or a joke, the prime minister would have done everything, and called Fox News and Sky News to defend Semitism and would have even declared war on anti-Semites. But no one will cry over the Egyptian woman who died there.

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 comenting or venting out their frustrations on Twitter.

Egyptian bloggers commenting or venting out their frustrations on Twitter.

As for myself, I found myself writing these lines on my blog Lasto Adri:

بعد أن قال الغرب أن قاتل مروة الشربينى لا يمثل ألمانيا، وأن الحادث مجرد عمل فردى،
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!

After the West said that Marwa's murderer doesn't represent Germany, and that it is an individual act.. I expect no less from -the same- West than erasing the idea that Muslims are terrorists from all its dictionaries, and to believe that Ben laden and his friends -for example- do not represent Arabs or Muslims in anything, and all what they do is individual actions!

As the proverb says: Don't blame me for something you do too. We both have the same “extremism”.

160 comments

  • Noor Ahmed

    This is a barbaric crime , I think that the guards should be asked why they let the man kill the poor woman , why the police shot the husband who tried to resque his wife? These acts make blood boil. Who are the true terrorist, The poor victum or the cruel murder?

  • I didn’t think my article might get any attention so thanks Eman athough it’s all about Marwa’s case regardless who write about. Hereby Bikya Masr, Zenibo and you have placed important points that I am to comment on them asap isa.

    @Mark Stoneman: You placed valid points that worthy to think about. but ‘main stream media’ doesn’t mean the blogsphere only it also means the seen/printed media. For example I didn’t see anything on the BBC/CNN/France24 regarding this in real time or at least shortly after where as many other cases are being instantly covered.

    @Timurlank: the case is about murdring not terror caused by germans. Generalising and mixing stuff together has no meaning and useless.

    @sy: isn’t funny that this is the same reaction when something happen like this in ME? So it’s time to understand that generalising from whoever aganist whoever is nonesense!

  • Prinzowhales

    It would be interesting to find this fellow’s background. Was he on anti-depressants? Was he a member of one of the government’s fake nationalist fronts? This vile fellow should be flown to Cairo and left there.

  • “the case is about murdring not terror caused by germans. Generalising and mixing stuff together has no meaning and useless.”
    No Sir the case is about Terror and not murder, the root cause is what makes it Terror. As for the “Generalising” it is a matter of fact in Germany, where muslims are singled out for no reason.
    Thank you

  • Dear Timurlank, I know that “Islam” & “Muslims” are stereotyped in the minds so awareness should be risen for that matter.

  • Andy Smith

    It is an outrage that this woman was not protected in the courtroom, and that the deranged murderer was allowed to (1) carry a knife, and (2) get anywhere near her. But, he does not in my opinion represent anyone other than himself. This woman should be grieved for, and honoured, and the court itself should be brought to book, for failing so dreadfully. Plenty of people hate unreasonably, but the madman didn’t kill because of hate but because of madness in his part and gross negligence on the court’s part. So I don’t see how it is appropriate or helpful to anyone to turn her into a martyr.

    • DEEN

      Dear Andy, i know that u are trying to look into this issue in a broader perspective but mind u, have u ever been to any court for a hearing?do u think that it is possible for a man to jump upon the victim and stabbed her to death if not for the complacency of the security guards?its 18 times for god sake!!!i would understand if it were 1 or 2 times.but anything over than 5 times would look totally suspicious.think about it before u comment again..

  • Tobias

    Hello. It is a very tragic case indeed, but everybody should be careful not to allow it to be instrumentalised. People who start spreading nonsense about state terror or conspiracy theories don’t actually care for the case or the woman which was killed, but they are proud to say “Yes, I told you!”. Don’t listen to them.

    Yes, there are resentments in parts of European population against the headscarf, as Europe has a strong feminist and secular tradition. We have to do more cultural dialog so people understand, that not all people with veils are oppressed. Definitely.

    But whatever education campaings we do it will never stop the occasitional madman who is just looking for an excuse to vent his aggression and lust of murder. Already the title of the article is misleading and unnecessarily inflamatory. It has little to do with the women’s veil. Those people will never care, no matter how tolerant society is. If the woman hadn’t worn a headscarf, he might have killed her because of her skin color. Or if it wouldn’t have been a muslim, but, let’s say, a punk, he would have killed her for wearing colored hair. Or just for for defending herself verbally. So please don’t generalize.

    • Tobians
      Quote
      “Already the title of the article is misleading and unnecessarily inflamatory. It has little to do with the women’s veil.”
      Awman wearing Islamic dress, together with her hed cover, a man pulling out her head cover dozens of times, calling her a TERRORIST, How does it sound like to you? To all Muslims it sounds like an act against Islamic dress and against Muslim women being chaste, or showing chastity. West is Christian, not Muslim? Right! Mary the Virgin was chaste too, and she wore HIJAB! The title is not inflammatory at all, as we see it here, it can only attract attentions of Muslims all over the world, whatever their nationalities and their social traditions. However, I mostly agree wiith you about the rest of your comment

    • DEEN

      ya. so when ben laden accused to bomb the twin tower, all muslims are bad?mind you..

  • […] yet I cannot find a report of it on more than a handful of mainstream sites. Egyptians, including Eman Abdel Rahman, have been disgusted by the media silence. Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: islamophobia, Marwa […]

  • Please sign the petition by clicking on the l ink below And/Or Send an email to Angela Merkel.

    Aim is to raise awareness, educate humanbeings and stop such maddness from happening again.

    BE PART OF THE SLOUTION FOR A BETTER WORLD FOR ALL: http://germanterror.blogspot.com

    Thank you

  • Abdallah

    I’m living in Hurghada and there are alot of germans here and many other nationalities and they are feeling safe even more than their own countries , also the egyptian police gives them more rights than egyptians themselves . And we all show them a good hospitality unlike what they do with us abroad. Even to go to any european country you will need ages to get the visa that if u can get it , but europeans can get it here in the airport , it is clear that there is racism not just in germany . at the end I would like that european treat arabian people as we treat them in our countries . By the way i have many german friends and they are really nice most of them but what happened is really too much .

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