Jordan: Why was Marwa killed?

Jordanian Naseem Tarawnah discusses the recent murder of Egyptian Marwa El-Sherbini, 32, in a courtroom in Germany in front of her three year old son and says: “This case was so mind-baffling when I read it a few days ago and I still haven’t been able to wrap my mind around it.”

19 comments

  • Olga

    Being a Russian myself (the killer is a Russian immigrant), I would suggest you looking at the situation from a different angle. He murdered Marwa not because he is a violent islamophobe, but because he is a criminal. Remember, it all started when he was sitting on the swings and began calling Marwa names after she asked him to give his place to her son.
    People like that are not a rarity in Russia. You just don’t cross their path, or you risk your life. Marwa was the wrong person in the wrong place. Under the situation, he would verbally attack regardless of the race/faith/colour, be it Marwa the muslim, or Ivan the christian, or Pria the buddist, a white guy or a black women. I mean, now that Marwa wore hidjab, this gave him the ground to call her terrorist. If it were a black person, or a Chinese, or Russian – ugly words would have been picked accordingly.
    These days, after the collapse of the USSR, when so many people lost ground under their feet, and crime has plummeted starting from 90s, many young people from poor, troubled familes found themselfs in gangs, and, judging by the killer’s behaviour, he might well have been part of a youth gang, ruthless and fearful. Now in Germany where he immigrated together with his family, he was again an outcast, unemployed and angry. Marwa’s request just fueled his anger and he poured his wrath on the poor woman.
    Marwa sued him, and he was fined, and that definitely made him even more angry. And then the grisley killing took place, when he realized he would be punished even more.
    I deeply regret the horrible death of the young woman, but would request you not to take it as the reason for jihad. She was killed NOT FOR WEARING HIJAB, as muslims now claim. She was killed by a bandit, who does not differentiate between races or faiths.

    • abdiaziz

      you must be joking my dear friend! the words you said make no justification for the killing of that innocent women!
      furthermore, your arguements to defend the racist crimminal are bigotry and free of facts!
      let me fill you in my friend, the poor lady was stabbed to death EIGHTEEN TIMES IN A COURT! am not that surprised by the that, but by the scene where this blood path has taken place; it was a court of law you nicompoop! a place where no one is allowed to carry or hoard a concealed weapon, in addition, that homocidal action took place in the eyes of security and the police where, i believe they deliberately gazed at him as he mercilessly butchered her to death and severely injured her husband in the eyes of their child, that will be a trauma that he will never forget in his life.
      so quit making a room of innocent,free from race and hate of islam for such racists and islamophobists!
      there are many haters out there, but not all of
      them are competent of eradicating humanity out of earth!

    • Imran

      What a joke…… Will you consider the same excuse for those muslims who are killing the non-muslims.
      If it would have happened in a Muslim Country where a non-muslim, pregnant lady would have been killed by a Muslim man. The media of entire world would have been showing “BREAKING NEWS” and the forces from all over the world would have been landed on that Muslim country…. Please use the same criteria while declaring the muslims “terrorists”………….. What a shame…..

  • Arsalan Goldberg

    Olga
    That may explain why he killed her but not why he was allowed to kill her. Remember that it didn’t happen out in the street somewhere. It happened in a courtroom full of armed policemen who refused to lift a finger to help while he stabbed her not once, not twice, not three four or five times, not six seven or eight, not nine ten or eleven times, not twelve or thirteen, or fourteen or fifteen but eighteen times!
    And when her husbands tried to stop the stabbings, they shot him!
    How long does it take to stab some one eighteen times?
    Well that is the antiIslam, anti Hijab and the racism.
    And the Germans haven’t noticed it, because they are all a bunch of racists! And they will not notice it, because their fathers were Nazis who went all over europe gassing Jews and Gypsies.

  • Ismail Aboulnaga,Ph.D.in Quality

    Comment to Olgas explanation(why the russian immigrant killed Marwa?)
    First:I appreciate your courage to admit that the real reason is the hardship of the lifestyle that man suffered in Russia, in the past, due to the governing scheme ruling there on those days.However, this is not an execuse. Many people are suffering from living miserable life conditions (even they sometimes die from starvation,deseises,unfair treatment and tortue, …etc); but they do not kill others as a revenge.
    Second:You missed the fact that the man inantly hates and disgusts Hidjap as a symbol for Islam. This is the main issue.Following is quoted from your own words, repeat, your own words \ I MEAN, NOW THAT MARWA WORE HIDJAP, THIS GAVE HIM THE GROUND TO CALL HER TERRORIST.\ This is typical Islamophopia . And this is not accepted .

  • Ismail Aboulnaga,Ph.D.in Quality

    (additional comment to Arslan Goldberg remark.)
    There is a radiculous exeplanation given ; that the gerrman guard shot the husband because he thought that the husband is the attacker! what is meant by the attacker here is ” the killer who attacked Marwa ” I could not beleive that explanation. But in a mental challenge to interpret that explanation – litterly- from the German guard point of view, presuming that he is telling the truth, I think what he meant by the attacker is ” the brave husband who attacked the killer to prevent him from continuing stabbing Marwa” i.e. the German guard (responsible for security in the courtyard) shot the husband who attacked the killer because by this attack the killer will not finalize his job as it should be;from the point of view of that guard!How radiculious is that. I think the professional qualifications of all the German guards attended this crime should be carefully scrutinised by international independent team of various relevant specialities. I am seriuos now and not trying to poke fun about the German guards behaveiour in the courtyard. I am also offering a hand as EXPERTIZE in Quality if somebody wanted to make an academical research in this cotest.

    • Mitch Nellerson

      “The killer behavior from the very beginning reveals an innate Islamophobia that is rooted in most western citizens.”

      Have it your way. If the act of a Russian immigrant reveals the innate Islamophobia root in most western citizens, then innumerable acts of Muslim terrorism and violence against non-Muslims reveal everything the West needs to know about the attitudes of most Muslims toward non-Muslims. Is that a case you really want to make?

  • Olga

    Ismail, I’ve just posted my response to Arsalan (i don’t see it at the moment), but hope it will appear soon. In the comment, I hope, I have also covered your question.
    Again, I am very sorry about the tragic death of the young and beautiful woman (may her soul rest in peace), and by no means excuse the thug, I only insist that he was a homophobe that would attack anybody regardless of creed or skin colour. He saw Marwa’s hijab, and that was enough for finding fault with that. Were she a Jew, she would be called by a much bigger bunch of dirty words that exist in Russian. A black woud also get his share of insults. Oh, and the worst names would be those that he would address a Russian. It’s so predictable with those people, unfortunately. If you knew a Russian reality, you would never call this incident as ” targeting muslims”. That’s just ridiculous.

  • Olga

    Sorry, that’s my response to Arsalan.

    Arsalan,

    She was stabbed 18 times in the documented slot of time – 2 minutes. It’s not that the police refused to raise a finger, it’s that they were trying to grasp the situation, slowly and inefficiently, as always. Or do you know of any case when they were fast and efficient?

    I personally can only recall the March 2007 drama, when the police were fast. See what happened as Reni Mulder (white) of Ondiep neighbourhood of Utrecht, Holland, came to help a pregnant (white) woman who was harassed by a group of muslim (Turkish) youths. He took a knife from one of the thugs, but when the police arrived, they saw it as a threat, and he was shot dead by a police agent from a 5-meter distance.
    There were persistent rumours that the agent was a female of Morrocan origin, which police denied, but never revealed the real killer. The denial declaration was also taken very quickly from the police website.
    When local (white) people went on a riot protesting against this particular tragic incident and overall against constant threats and harassments in the area on the part of the muslim “youths”, the riot police came from all parts of Holland to patrol the streets, they arrested 135 people (all whites), even the bystanders and the elderly. Mind you that the local population had already been desperate because of the numerous cases of intimidating, sneering, etc. by muslims, but the police had been totally irresponsive.
    Does this tell you anything?

    Only those who want to raise the issue of muslim “special” rights in Europe call Marwa’s stabbing anti-racist and anti-muslim. As I said, Marwa was the wrong person in the wrong place, and had a Jew, or a Chinese, or an African been in her place at that playground, they would have received the same treatment, only words would have been picked accordingly. The thug is a homophobe, not aiming at a particular race/creed, but at a person in general.

    Calling stabbing in the court racist and anti hijab is absolutely rubbish. Only those who want to believe in it would call it as such. Now that you insist on the anti-islam version, no reasoning can change your view because you refuse to hear. Even if you ridiculously disguise as “Goldberg”, there’s not a tiny bit of Goldberg in you, as your way of thoughts easily gives away the indocrinated mindset of a muslim.

    Regarding Germans’ gassing of Jews and Gypsies. Could you please drop this subject at all? Germany long ago claimed guilty in that horrendous crime, and swore not to allow anything like that in the future. And, as a matter of excuse, they allowed a mass Jew immigration in the country. I know a number of families from Russia who accepted to move there, and they got financial compensation and benefits.

    You call the Germans a bunch of Nazis, and cry over gassed Gypsies and Jews. So hypocritical of you not to cry over much fresher victims, those millions that have died from the “sword of allah” in Africa, Asia, in terror attacks of 9/11, Bali, Mumbai, Beslan. Who are you then, muslims? By extension, why not then call you a bunch of islamofascists, or islamonazis?

    People in Europe keep asking where are those peace-loving representatives of the peace-loving religion who condemn the mass killings and terror acts that I mentioned above. If the current protests of Egyptians over the death of Marwa would be at least half as strong as when those millions were or are murdered, Europeans would believe that you are against the crimes in the name of islam. The “selective” silence of muslims speaks volumes.

    You are indignant when somebody calls muslims “terrorists”. Please make an effort to see that there’s a good reason for that. No doubt, the majority of those who come to Europe are decent people, but, unfortunately, the image of radicalized or criminalized representatives of islam tarnish the overall picture.

    I recall another case related to infamous London bombing. One of the killed was a Belarusian, whose mother I happened to meet on a plane. She was going to London after the attack to bury her son. He had been a bright mathematician who got a one in a lifetime contract and moved to London full of hopes. He was blasted together with many others in a bus attack.

    Can you guess now why people at time think of muslims as “terrorists”?

  • Adonis

    Olga,

    Reading in between the lines of your post, you seem like you are trying to give an unconscious excuse to the killer and exonerate the courtroom security officials. First, why the killer was allowed to bring in a sharp object to the courtroom? The only way to bring a knife to a courtroom is to smuggle it in. Can you do that alone, especially if you are coming to stand in front of a judge? No! there must be an accomplice. The most likely accomplice in this hate crime is the courtroom police who may have smuggled the weapon inside the courtroom. Second: the killer stabbed the victim eighteen times! if police was not an accomplice in this crime, then why did they allow the killer to keep on stabbing his victim while they watched? police are trained to shoot in a split of a second. Even if we were to believe the official story and the 2 minutes time, police could have shot the killer several hundred times during the 2 minutes time span, but they chose not to do so. Third: it does not seem like the police officers were lethargic because they were very quick to shoot the victim’s husband as he tried to stop the killer. It is evident that the police were fully aware of the planned killing and they actively participated in making it happen.

    Your suggestion, Olga, that terrorism is linked to Islam is absolutely abhorred. You wanted to sound reasonable, but fell into the trap that media and postings like yours have been portraying for a long time. Violent acts happen, and they happen everywhere and for so many different reasons, some political, some economical and only extremely rarely because of pure religion fanaticism. The world wars I and II were not started by Muslims, the nuclear bomb was not dropped by Muslims, the wars on Gaza and Lebanon were not started by Muslims, the Crusaders’ wars were not started by Muslims, the Iraq war was not started by Muslims, yet we do not hear about terrorist Europe for staring wars that killed nearly 50 million people in many many parts of the world, we do not hear about terrorist America that dropped the infamous nuclear bombs on innocent people in Japan, we have never heard of the terrorist Vatican for killing scores of Muslims during the terrorist Crusader wars, and we do not hear about terrorist Israel for killing thousands of children in Gaza and Lebanon. The “terrorist” coin is being used to justify hate crimes against innocent Muslims. It has become an easy excuse for many to justify abhorrent acts that will ultimately bring more violence. Muslims across the globe condemned the London bombings and similar incidents, so it is not the religion which drove those fanatics to carry out their crimes, it is the socio-economics and geopolitics of the people and their region. Remember that one of every 4 people on our planet is a Muslim and we can’t label them collectively by any label other than Muslims (even that label is not very accurate). To say that “No doubt, the majority of those who come to Europe are decent people” is not accurate to say the least, because your comment leaves a question about Muslims who did not come to Europe, did the Muslims who come to Europe leave behind the bad guys? And my question to you now, is Europe good in the first place? Did you like the ethnic cleansing by the Serbs a few years ago? Did you like the Nazi Germany and gas chambers against the Jews or did you like Hitler’s ideology of eliminating the handicapped and the genetically sick? Tell me something about Italy’s Mussolini or even the Eastern equivalent Stalin, are these good people? Does England have an honorable history of massacring their Red Indian hosts after they arrived on the American continent? We should look at ourselves before labeling others.

    The German/Russian killer, is a killer with premeditation, he is clearly an islamphobic and anti hijab, and to me based on the story as it unfolds, the courtroom police is an accomplice and a racist as well for not stopping the crime as happened.

    The victims (the woman, her unborn baby, her husband, and her young son) in this latest hate crime were not only victims of the direct killer and his accomplices, but they were victims of irresponsible media coverage and unfortunately un-informed postings by some individuals.

  • Ismail Aboulnaga,Ph.D.in Quality

    The killer behavior from the very beginning reveals an innate Islamophobia that is rooted in most western citizens. I think this is due to incorrect information about real Islam given to them when they are children in schools. That is augmented by biased Media, dual standards on account of western countries when dealing with Islamic related matters officially, and to a very little extent on some Muslims side who do not behave according to Islamic rules (although in most of those cases they were pushed to do so because of unfairness they feel). Let us scrutinize the case in hand. Marwa is a good Muslim lady. This was proved by the German court which found that Alex, the Russian immigrant, was guilty and fined him for insulting her.
    Moreover, was also: 1) Highly educated and accompanying her husband for his Ph.D. studies; 2) Sports-woman who played in the Egyptian Handball National Team when was a girl; 3) Keen mother as she took her child to swing at a garden.Definitely her personality is influenced by these talents and capabilities. Any normal person would expect that she politely asked the man to allow her child sit on the swing presuming that any grown up person would be happy to do so from humanity point of view, not to mention that he was her neighbor and should had have noticed her decent dealing with others. He exploded in swear words instead, because she wore headscarf only . what would happened if she wore a real HIDJAB that cover the head and the upper part of the body altogether. Isnt this Islamophobia!?
    Now we come to the official reactions of the spokes-woman, in particular, and the stream German media, in general, are they ethical? NO, NOT AT ALL. They are in jeopardy. Due to their indifference, and what said that police went to search Marwas apartment in hope to find something( a piece of paper with her hand writings) that can be as evidence against her! Isnt this radiculiousi.e. The police searched the victims flat and shot the victims husband, instead of concentrating their efforts on the actual guilty man. I think the police higher officials should be held responsible too, not only for their dual standards the use , but also for the malfunctioning training programs that produce inefficient policemen. The whole culture of Germany and similarly all other Eurpean countries should be rectified. Otherwise,all talks about world piece will be in vain. IIIWW can be suddenly break out from inside Germany. Remember; they out broke IWW and IIWW. Remember also that history can repeat itself. This is a scientific fact. Therefore, be aware and start to take corrective actions.
    While we are talking about far away future, can anybody tell about the near future of the brave husband laying in critical health position in hospital, and the three years old child who saw his mother stabbed to death in front of him!?!?

  • Ismail Aboulnaga,Ph.D.in Quality

    Olga, I quoted in my first comment some of your own words that directly point to the Islamophobia derive in the killer behavior(s). I INTENTIONALLY PUT THE LETTER S… FOR PLURAL between brackets because it, I mean,-Islamophpbia- overruled him from the very beginning, in the garden. His criminal behavior(s) was not because he had bad life in Russia. He even does not consider himself Russian any more. This is apparently clear from his harsh wording to Marwa in front of the court(interrogating her whether she has the right to live Germany ?! and telling her that when his party is elected she will not stay anymore). Please read Adonis comment and what I posted to GUARDIAN.CO.UK,which I Quoted here some minutes before. Please note we are discussing personal behaviors of individuals, not political regimes. If you insist that this ex-Russian is that desperate the consequent question will self arise (what is expected from other ex-Russians?). Moreover; how do you see the official German media slackness and incomplete information firstly given by the court spokes-woman? can you paragmatically comment? She is not an ex-Russian, on the other hand she is not only pure German, but also an official civil servant. Why she tried to morally kill Marwa’s case after Marwa herself was actually killed, by not giving full details of the tragedy. Some of them might agonized the conscious of some still honest media personnel to take move,at least from humanity point of view. Please remember that there is a three years old child who saw his mother stabbed to death, and an injured husband laying in a hospital in a crucial health state.

  • neutral

    I read questions that dealt with the course of events in court. I would suggest reading the english wikipedia entry since it describes the course of events detailed and objectively:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marwa_El-Sherbini

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