Mixed reactions at courtroom murderer's "day of justice"

Nov 11, 2009, 17:08 GMT

Dresden/Cairo - The lifelong sentence for a German man found guilty of murdering a pregnant Egyptian woman in court was broadly met with relief on Wednesday, although the victim's family felt justice had not been fully done.

Aleksandr Wiens, a German of Russian origin, was sentenced to life imprisonment without the chance of early parole, for stabbing to death Marwa el-Shirbini during a court hearing in July.

At the time, he was appealing a fine after he had insulted the 31-year-old mother at a playground last year.

   The lawyer of Shirbini's widower, Heiko Lesch, described the verdict as a 'day of justice.'

   'The sentence won't bring back the beloved wife of Mr Okaz, or the mother of little Mustafa,' Lesch told the German Press Agency dpa.

   'However, I am happy that the perpetrator is receiving his fair punishment,' the lawyer said.

After the verdict, defence lawyer Michael Sturm said he still doubted Wiens' accountability at the time of the murder, after it was revealed that his client had a history of schizophrenia. 'At the moment I am strongly inclined to appeal,' Sturm told dpa.

Shirbini's brother, Tarek el-Shirbini, criticized the judgement, saying it left open a window of opportunity for the defendant to be released at a later date.

   Wiens was given the highest sentence under German law, virtually ruling out the chance of early release. Yet, in exceptional circumstances such as severe illness, Wiens could in theory be released after serving a minimum of 15 years.

'In Egypt, lifelong (imprisonment) would mean lifelong,' the victim's brother said.

Shirbini further criticized the fact that nobody would be brought to justice for the delay in coming to his sister's aid, after she was stabbed 16 times in the courtroom.

The court had absolved those responsible for the security lapse that enabled Wiens to bring a knife into court, Shirbini added.

The victim's brother was convinced that the deed had a political element, and wanted to take the case to an international court.

Within Germany, the verdict was broadly welcomed.

Maria Boehmer, Germany's commissioner for minority affairs, said the sentence sent a clear signal to Muslims in Germany and the Arab world.

'There is no room for Islamophobia and xenophobia in our country,' Boehmer said, calling the murder 'the deed of a loner.'

   The Egyptian ambassador, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, said he was very happy with the sentence.

Ayyub Axel Koehler, the head of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, said the sentence had been reached after careful consideration.

   'We are proud of our legal system and independent judiciary,' Koehler said in Dresden. He called for Germany to take steps to prevent Islamophobia and said, 'We have to hope that something like this does not repeat itself.'

Kenan Kolat, a Turkish community spokesman, lamented the fact that the German government had not been represented in court, after Chancellor Angela Merkel's government had been slow to respond to the initial murder.

   In Cairo on Wednesday, reactions to the verdict were mixed.

   Hanan Mohammed Mostafa, a 54-year old nurse, said: 'This was an utterly heinous crime. Life in prison is too little. He should have been executed. He took an innocent woman's life. Marwa's only 'crime' was being a Muslim.'

   Osama Tharwat, a 23-year old cook, agreed. 'This was a disgraceful crime. He should have been executed, especially considering that he took her unborn baby's life as well.'

   Ahmed Said, 20, took a softer view. 'This was the correct verdict. The punishment fits the crime, 100 per cent.'

Law professor Ahmed Refaat, from the University of Port Said in Egypt, welcomed the verdict.

'It is fair. I am very happy that the court did not accept the claim that this murderer was psychologically ill,' Refaat told Egyptian Nile TV.

 The murder of Shirbini, who wore an Islamic headscarf, had caused outrage in Egypt and the Arab world, as many suspected that she had been killed merely because she was a Muslim.