Genocide: Massacres, torture, expulsion: Other incidents: Marwa Ali El-Sherbini (Arabic: مروة على الشربيني),[note 1] was an Egyptian woman and German resident who was killed in 2009 during an appeal hearing at a court of law in Dresden, Germany, when she was three months pregnant.

She was stabbed by Alex Wiens,[note 2] an ethnic German immigrant from Russia against whom she had testified in a criminal case for verbal abuse.

[2] The death of El-Sherbini immediately resulted in international reactions, with the most vocal responses coming from predominantly Muslim nations.

The Egyptian public and media focused attention on the religious and racial hatred aspect of the killing,[3] especially as the initial confrontation between the victim and perpetrator had happened because she wore an Islamic headscarf.

In response to anti-German sentiments and public protests in Egypt and other countries, the German government issued a statement of condolence nine days after the incident.

[5] In 2008, the couple and their two-year-old son moved to Dresden, where Okaz, a lecturer at Minufiya University, obtained a doctoral research position at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics.

[5] Together with others, El-Sherbini founded a registered voluntary association with the aim of establishing an Islamic cultural and education centre in Dresden.

[note 3] Other people present tried to intervene, but Wiens vehemently continued the verbal abuse for several minutes, directing epithets in Russian and German at the Russian-speaking bystanders who attempted to reason with him.

[7] At the appeal hearing at the regional court in Dresden, in the morning 1 July 2009, nine people were present in the courtroom: three judges, the prosecutor, Wiens as the defendant, his court-appointed defence counsel, El-Sherbini as witness for the prosecution, and her husband and son as observers.

When she, her husband, and their three-year-old son were at the door, Wiens suddenly attacked El-Sherbini with a kitchen knife with an 18 cm (7.1 in) long blade, which he apparently had taken into the courtroom in a backpack.

[31][32] All concurrent trials were transferred to other local venues, due to the security concerns, the great interest by the national and international media,[33] and the public.

[36] The defence counsel motioned for the judges to be removed from the trial on the grounds of bias as they were colleagues of witnesses and worked near the crime scene.

[49] Witnesses in the second week of the trial included people present in the original confrontation on the playground[50][51] and the police officers responding to the attack on 21 August 2008.

[17][18] The police officer who had mistakenly shot Okaz exercised the right to remain silent during the murder trial, as a criminal investigation against him was ongoing at the time.

[47][52] He was diagnosed with haematomas and a suspected traumatic brain injury, but was judged fit to stand trial after a hospital-based medical examination.

[56] In October 2009 in an out-of-court discussion, lawyers on behalf of El-Sherbini's family and widower approached the Ministry of Justice of the State of Saxony about compensation.

[65] Another politician called for an investigation and the Association of Judges in Saxony (Sächsischer Richterbund) demanded a review of security procedures in court buildings.

[69] The Central Council of Muslims in Germany suggested that the death of El-Sherbini was a result of a growing "Islamophobia", evident in many Internet discussion boards.

[71] A local Islamic association in Dresden stated that their planned centre for cultural exchange will be named after El-Sherbini, to promote mutual understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims.

[5][6][72][73] On 6 July 2009, about 2,000 Muslims of the Egyptian community and other nationalities in Germany held funeral prayers for El-Sherbini, in Dar Al-Salam Mosque, in Berlin.

[75][76] About the same time, the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, where El-Sherbini's husband researches, issued a statement on the occasion of the official ceremony, expressing shock and sympathy.

"[78] In December 2009, the Ministry of Justice in Saxony announced plans to commemorated the death of El-Sherbini with a memorial plaque in the regional court building.

[83] The Marwa El-Sherbini Stipendium für Weltoffenheit und Toleranz[note 9] aims at developing future leaders who support freedom, democracy, and human rights.

[84] El-Sherbini's death caused considerable public and media attention in Egypt,[3] accompanied by strong anti-German sentiments.

"[88] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed the German government for El-Sherbini's murder and called for international condemnation of Germany.

[89] In a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Ahmadinejad demanded firm action against Germany and stated that "there is a strong view that the crime was a pre-planned attempt engineered by the judicial system and security forces".

Al-Wafd an Egyptian newspaper accused Iran of exploiting the killing of El-Sherbini to turn Muslims and Arabs against Europe and the US.

He also noted that the perceptions of a speculated verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity differed vastly between Al Jazeera and Deutschlandfunk audiences.

[92] Media scientist Hanan Badr commented on reporting in Germany and Egypt as being "a prime example of mass-media miscommunication between cultures".