Europe News

Man to go on trial next month in killing of Egyptian woman

Sep 24, 2009, 10:58 GMT

Dresden, Germany - A right-wing immigrant man is to go on trial next month, charged with stabbing to death a pregnant Egyptian woman in a German courtroom, a court spokesman said Thursday.

The case against Alexander W, aged 28, is likely begin on October 26 at the district court in the eastern German city of Dresden.

It was not immediately clear if the trial would be held in the same courtroom where the Russian-born man stabbed pharmacist Marwa al-Shirbini at least 16 times on July 1.

'No matter where the case is heard, security will be extremely tight,' the court spokesman said, adding that a final decision on the venue and starting date would be announced next week.

The so-called headscarf murder triggered outrage in the Muslim world.

Alexander W attacked Shirbini, 31, during a hearing on an appeal he lodged against a 330-euro (480-dollar) fine he was ordered to pay for verbally abusing the woman at a children's playground in August 2008.

He called her a 'terrorist' after she asked him to stop sitting on a child's swing so her son could use it, witnesses told police. Shirbini was wearing a headscarf at the time.

During the appeal, the judge ordered a verbatim record of W's racist remarks in the courtroom. He called Muslims 'monsters' and demanded they all be expelled from Germany.

He stabbed Shirbini before a verdict could be pronounced. Her husband, Elwi Okaz, was wounded by a policeman's bullet as he tried to save her.

The unemployed W has been charged with murder, attempted murder and causing aggravated bodily harm. He faces life imprisonment if convicted.

Alexander W and his family emigrated to Germany in 2003 on grounds of German ancestry.