Egyptians appeal against Germany calling off murder inquiry

Jan 5, 2010, 18:08 GMT

Dresden, Germany - An Egyptian family is appealing against a decision by German prosecutors not to prosecute anyone else over a courtroom stabbing last year which cost the life of a pregnant mother, their lawyer said Tuesday.

Marwa el-Shirbini, 31, was stabbed to death in Dresden court in July 2009 by a German man she had accused of criminal insult. Many in Egypt regard her as a martyr for the cause of wearing a headscarf. The self-confessed racist, Alex Wiens, was jailed in November for life.

Andreas Schulz, a Berlin lawyer representing her widower and family, told the German Press Agency dpa on Tuesday he had lodged an appeal against a decision by prosecutors not to charge the judge of the courtroom, the courthouse chief judge and a policeman who blundered in the melee.

The family had accused the judiciary of failing to protect el- Shirbini. They were also angry that the policemen, who had been in a different court to give evidence, ran into the room and shot el- Shirbini's husband in the leg instead of shooting Wiens.

Schulz said he had lodged a complaint with the prosecutor's office, a form of appeal, and would file the reasons for it later. He said he would be seeking a review of the facts.

The murder on July 1 caused shock in the Muslim world, especially when it was revealed that unemployed, Russian-born immigrant Wiens had insulted el-Shirbini, a qualified pharmacist, calling her a terrorist and Islamist, because she wore a scarf.

There was also upset that it took a week before the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel officially condemned the killing.

Prosecutors said the policeman misunderstood what was happening in the struggle between the husband and the assailant, because at that very instant the husband had just wrested away the knife and amid the blood, it had looked as if he were the knife-man.

They said they could find no legal offences by the judges on duty on July 1.