Hundreds of people carrying white roses gathered on Saturday on the steps of Dresden’s city hall in honor of an Egyptian woman who was fatally stabbed by a defendant in a German courtroom.
Marwa al-Sherbini, a pregnant 31-year-old pharmacist, was stabbed 18 times in a court where she was to have testified against a young Russian-born German. She had filed a complaint against him last year accusing him of insulting her with racial slurs.
The public memorial, organized by local civil rights groups, drew more than 1,000 people, including the Egyptian ambassador and officials from the state of Saxony, where the July 1 stabbing took place.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Mourners brought single white roses that they laid beneath large photos of the dead woman.
Al-Sherbini was stabbed as her three-year-old son looked on. Her husband was injured when he intervened to protect her and he remains hospitalized.
The attacker, identified only as Alex W, 28, remains in detention pending the outcome of an investigation on suspicion of murder. Charging a suspect typically takes months in Germany.
Al-Sherbini had already testified once against the man in court in November, after which he was fined for calling her a “terrorist” and an “Islamist at a playground.”
He had returned to court on July 1 to challenge the fine. Because the man was not considered a threat and had not been held in detention before the court session, there was no security surrounding the trial.
Many German courts, including that in Dresden, have no security checks at their entrance.
“This crime by a lone wolf destroyed a family’s hopes within minutes,” Egyptian Ambassador Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy said.
“We expect the attacker to be swiftly sentenced and her family to receive justice,” Ramzy said.
Egyptians have expressed outrage at the attack, saying the German response has been too little, too late and serves as an example of racism and anti-Muslim sentiment.
Former British prime minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday urged so-called middle powers to become a “poisonous shrimp” to carve out strategic economic leverage in a more turbulent global environment. Sunak drew from a metaphor by former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀): A big fish will eat a smaller fish, and the smaller fish will eat the shrimp. Lee made the point a year after the Asian nation’s independence in 1966 that the city-state needed to build up its defense mechanisms — like a shrimp that stings — so it would be left alone by predators. “He was thinking about what Singapore’s
POLL POSITION: Democrats criticized the timing of the raid, saying that the US justice department historically avoids public investigations within 60 days of an election Federal agents on Monday searched the home of Democratic US Representative Ilhan Omar, a startling escalation in a criminal investigation that brings renewed focus to the frequent target of White House derision in the final weeks of her re-election bid. The search of the Minnesota congresswoman’s home so close to next month’s midterm contests that would determine control of the US House and the Senate was swiftly condemned by top Democrats in Congress, who raised questions about the timing given longstanding US Department of Justice (DOJ) protocol to avoid overt investigative steps involving political candidates in the direct run-up to an
A Rhode Island pumpkin grower appears to have broken the world record for the heaviest pumpkin, with his giant squash topping the record by nearly 136kg. Ron Wallace of Greene, Rhode Island, weighed his pumpkin on Saturday at a contest in New England and is waiting for the Guinness World Records to confirm he smashed the record, set about a week earlier by a grower in England. Wallace said he has been in contact with Guinness officials who say his record is on track to be verified. “It’s truly massive, it was a pleasure to grow,” Wallace said on Monday. Guinness World Records lists
BUILDUP: The report comes as Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi boosts defense spending in the face of China’s military expansion and the North Korean threat French defence contractor Thales will establish a maintenance and operational support base in Japan in what is seen as the first such move by a foreign firm in the country, a report said yesterday. Thales chairman and CEO Patrice Caine told the Nikkei business daily that the base “will mark a milestone toward Thales’ long-term engagement in Japan.” It is believed to be the first time a foreign defense company has established a dedicated base in Japan for the maintenance and operation of Japanese defense equipment, the Nikkei said. It added that Thales might also expand its Japan-based business to
RSS