Marwa El-Sherbini

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Mourning ceremony at Dresden City Hall, speech by the Egyptian ambassador
Honorable memory for the dead at Dresden City Hall

Marwa Ali El-Sherbini ( Arabic مروة على الشربيني, DMG Marwa ʿAlī aš-Šarbīnī ; * October 7, 1977 in Alexandria , Egypt ; † July 1, 2009 in Dresden ) was an Egyptian national handball player and pharmacist . Her violent death attracted international attention when she was stabbed to death by the defendant for Islamic and xenophobic motives during a criminal hearing in the Dresden Regional Court , to which she was summoned as a witness .

Life

Career

Marwa El-Sherbini was the daughter of the chemist couple Ali El-Sherbini and Laila Shams from Alexandria . In 1995 she graduated from English Girls College in Alexandria. She was head girl there. From 1995 to 2000 she studied pharmacy and graduated with a bachelor's degree .

From 1992 to 1999 Marwa El-Sherbini was a player in the Egyptian national handball team for women . She was third in the Arab championships in 1998 and 1999.

In 2005 she went to Bremen with her husband, the genetic researcher Elwy Ali Okaz . They have a son who was born in 2006. In 2008 the family moved to Dresden. Okaz was a doctoral student at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics . At the end of 2009 they wanted to return to Egypt, where their husband is a lecturer at Minufiya University .

Conflict with her future killer

In August 2008 Marwa El-Sherbini was insulted by the Russian-German Alex Wiens, who was born in Perm as Alexander Igorewitsch Nelsin, on a playground in Dresden as an “ Islamist ”, “ terrorist ” and “slut”. Then a third person present informed the police. The police officers who were summoned recorded the incident on site and processed the complaint. The Dresden District Court issued a penalty order against Vienna with a fine of 30 daily rates of 11 euros each. After Wiens had appealed against the penalty order , a main hearing took place in which Marwa El-Sherbini was heard as a witness. The defendant Vienna was sentenced to a fine of 60 daily rates of 13 euros each. During the trial he said that “such people” could not be insulted because they were not “real people”. The public prosecutor's office took this as an opportunity to appeal in order to obtain a higher sentence for a xenophobic background. Alex Wiens also appealed the judgment.

assassination

In the appeal hearing on July 1, 2009, Alex Wiens attacked Marwa El-Sherbini, who was three months pregnant when she tried to leave courtroom 0.10 of the regional court building, after her testimony, and killed her with 18 stab wounds. Her husband, who wanted to rush to her aid, was seriously injured with three stab wounds. In addition, an approaching police officer fired a targeted shot at her husband, who he believed was the attacker, and hit him in the leg. There had previously been no gun controls at the building entrance or in the courtroom. The three year old son witnessed his mother bleeding to death. The public prosecutor spoke of a lone perpetrator who acted out of an “extremely xenophobic motivation”.

After a central mourning rally with 2000 participants in Berlin, the body of Marwa El-Sherbini was transferred to Egypt on July 5th. On July 6, she was buried in Alexandria, where she is considered a martyr .

The trial of Vienna took place under strict security from October 26 to November 11, 2009 at the Dresden Regional Court and ended with the conviction for the murder of Marwa El-Sherbini and the attempted murder of her husband to a life sentence . The court found that Vienna's guilt was particularly serious , among other things because the act was directed against several people and had several features of murder. Wiens carried out the attempted murder of Okaz in order to make the murder of Marwa El-Sherbini possible, which in turn was committed insidiously and for base motives - namely hatred of foreigners. The court ruled out an act of affect and considered Vienna to be fully culpable at the time of the crime.

Reactions

General

The murder of Marwa El-Sherbini attracted international media attention, particularly in Egypt and the rest of the Muslim world. In some cases, there were also protest rallies at which anti-German attitudes were increasingly expressed, especially due to the long lack of a reaction that was considered appropriate by the German side. Iran's President Mahmud Ahmadinejad described the act as “pre-programmed” and demanded that Germany be sanctioned by the United Nations . The West is complaining about human rights violations in Iran, and at the same time an "innocent woman is being dismembered" in a German courtroom.

The German media, with a few exceptions, initially rated the case as a personal tragedy for days and largely withheld the racist background of the crime. Only after public pressure from abroad (up to and including the English-language press it was complained that Germany ignored the “true meaning” of the murder) was this picture gradually corrected, and German politicians only reacted to this. Three weeks after the fact

“[…] Representatives of the churches and Interior Minister Schäuble , inventor of the German Islam Conference, were silent . Maria Böhmer , who is obviously responsible for the German Muslims as the integration officer, gave her condolences. All of us Chancellor Merkel spoke to the Egyptian ambassador, but not to the German public. The 'sudden freaking out' in a 'completely normal insulting process' was widely reported, but the political background of the act left SZ , FAZ and ' Tagesthemen ' cold for a week and a half, Spiegel for two and a half weeks and ' Kulturzeit ' to this day. "

- Hilal Sezgin : taz on July 22, 2009

Stephan Kramer from the Central Council of Jews in Germany , who had traveled to Dresden to see the murdered woman's husband, reacted early . The “paradox” and the “political explosiveness” of the fact that Marwa El-Sherbini “relied on the German judiciary, [...] had sought protection from it against hatred of foreigners [...] and [...] died defenseless in a German courtroom [ is] ", was otherwise hardly noticed at first:

“If you can speculate about the (West) German majority consciousness, then after this act the following lines of thought played out: 1. How terrible, the poor woman, what a misfortune. 2. The act did not actually happen in Germany, but in the East. 3. The perpetrator is a Russian-German [...], so none of us. 4. An individual case: transition to the agenda.
So the matter was marginalized mentally, and politics initially only noticed it out of the corner of their eye. The Dresden judiciary had considered the hearing to be a routine matter. What is standard elsewhere - bag control, metal detectors - is the exception in Saxon court buildings. For such an exception, however, according to Justice Minister Geert Mackenroth (CDU), 'no particular security risks were discernible'.
The weakness of perception continued to work after the crime had already happened. "

- The time

Several journalists from the weekly Die Zeit apologized for the problematic initial classification of the case on the German side and saw the country as well as other German media in this phase on the "edge of a culture war". On the other hand, the Austrian Standard , among others, criticized the multiple use of this term, which in its view could hardly be related to the processes, while the legitimate talk of “Islamophobia” is only slowly seeping into consciousness.

The Coordinating Council of Muslims , which unites the associations DITIB , VIKZ , the Islamic Council and the Central Council of Muslims, called for people to pray for the murdered throughout Germany during Friday prayers. Furthermore, authorities, politicians and churches are expected to take steps to combat “Islamophobia” in Germany. The chairman of the Central Council of Ex-Muslims , Mina Ahadi , warned against political “instrumentalization” of the incident. The terrible murder does not give any Islamic organization the right to muzzle critics of Islam. The Islam-critical sociologist and educationalist Hartmut Krauss described the media representation of the Sherbini murder as unrealistic. Krauss relied on the information on the motive that the investigating public prosecutor had available and postulated that the act was the result of an "emotionally rocked" dispute. Furthermore, he criticized what he saw as a clear interest-political exploitation of the case by the Muslim associations, who would exploit this crime as the alleged result of an allegedly existing "Islamophobia".

In a guest comment on July 8, 2009 in Austria, Tarafa Baghajati accused the German media of the murder case that they had "first systematically suppressed the news, and now attempts are even being made to shape a kind of perpetrator-victim reversal." that it was “the first murder committed out of hatred of Islam in German-speaking countries”.

In 2009, the Marwa Elsherbiny Culture and Education Center Dresden was founded in Dresden . The purpose of the organization is the "promotion of culture, promotion of religion and the promotion of international sentiments, tolerance in all areas of culture and international understanding". According to the authorities for the protection of the constitution, the sponsoring association overlaps with the Islamist milieu.

On October 18, 2018, a square in the Steintor district of Bremen was named after Marwa El-Sherbini.

Reactions in Dresden

Sculpture between the Semperoper and the Zwinger
Overturned sculpture on Prager Strasse

The then Saxon Justice Minister Geert Mackenroth spoke of a “tragedy” after the crime: “My condolences go to the victim and his relatives. We will do everything we can to clarify the motive and background of the crime. ”In Dresden, on the afternoon of July 11, 2009, a memorial event with several speeches took place at the town hall following a call from the Dresden Foreigners Council, the City's Foreigners Advisory Council and other groups.

Individual citizens, citizen groups and various associations have named xenophobic tendencies in Dresden for a long time and thus achieved different levels of effectiveness. As a result, a regional “Alliance for Democracy” was formed. The Dresden communication scientist Wolfgang Donsbach called for a “rethink in the population” and formulated his thoughts in an open letter entitled “Dresden - wake up!” The trigger was the low participation of politicians and citizens in the funeral event.

The Bürger.Courage association took the crime as an opportunity to draw attention to everyday racism and xenophobia in 2010 with its temporary art installation “18 Stiches”. Were distributed to the city of Dresden 18  steles of aerated concrete , which had the form of knives driven into the ground, situated. It began on the first anniversary of the murder of Marwa El-Sherbini. During the entire six-week duration of the art project, individual steles and associated information boards were repeatedly vandalized.

The board of trustees of the Marwa-El-Sherbini-Scholarship , consisting of representatives from the Free State of Saxony and the City of Dresden, awarded the same-named scholarship for cosmopolitanism and tolerance for the first time in 2012, which includes a monthly grant of 750 euros. “With this scholarship, we remember Marwa El-Sherbini in a special way. So the thought of this committed woman lives on. Young people advocate a cosmopolitan Dresden on their behalf with ideas and knowledge, ”said Mayor Helma Orosz .

A memorial plaque was installed in the district court building at the entrance area, on which a memorial takes place every year on July 1st. Since the incident, all visitors have been checked for weapons at the entrance.

In 2015 the artist presented Nezaket Ekici as part of the Art Commission of the City of Dresden three-part art project initiated "Dresden.? - Working with the City ”from the end of May to the beginning of July 2015 presented their carpet installation“ PostIt ”in the park in front of the Dresden Regional Court . The installation should stand for a dialogue between cultures and at the same time commemorate Marwa El-Sherbini. This work of art was also vandalized.

literature

  • Victim counseling of the RAA Sachsen e. V. (Ed., Proofreading: Alexandra Klei ): Tödliche Realitäten. The racist murder of Marwa El-Sherbini. Regional offices for education, integration and democracy Saxony, Hoyerswerda 2011, ISBN 978-3-00-034794-8 .

Web links

Commons : Marwa el-Sherbini  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernhard Honnigfort: Judgment in the El Sherbini Trial: Lifelong for Marwa's murderer , in: Frankfurter Rundschau , November 11, 2009.
  2. ^ Proof of Elwy Okaz's dissertation in the German National Library
  3. ↑ Thomas Schade: "The Smiling Beauty" , in Sächsische Zeitung , July 16, 2009 ( online ( memento from September 12, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )).
  4. Jump up ↑ Marwa Trial: Army retired Alex W. for schizophrenia. In: Spiegel Online . November 10, 2009, accessed October 19, 2010 .
  5. ↑ a b Gisela Friedrichsen : "Muslims are enemies" . In: Der Spiegel . No. 46 , 2009, p. 40 ( Online - Nov. 9, 2009 ).
  6. ↑ Gisela Friedrichsen: Prelude to the Marwa Trial: An Accused Full of Resistance and Provocation , Spiegel Online , October 26, 2009 (reporting on the first day of the trial before the 1st major criminal chamber of the Dresden Regional Court / the witness testimony of the husband).
  7. ↑ a b Sven Heitkamp: Bloodbath in the courtroom: Police are investigating insidious murder. In: Welt Online . July 3, 2009, accessed October 19, 2010 .
  8. ↑ Lars Rischke: Dresden: Witness killed in court after a dispute over swing. In: Welt Online. July 1, 2009, accessed December 17, 2014 .
  9. ↑ Bernhard Honnigfort: Dresdner Bluttat: More than hatred of foreigners ( Memento from July 31, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) , in: Frankfurter Rundschau , July 3, 2009.
  10. ↑ Nadine Kenawi, Nabil Abu Shal, Ahmed Ali: More Than 2000 Muslims Mourn Veil Victim in Berlin; Special Grave in Alexandria , in: Almasry Alyoum , July 6, 2009 ( online ( memento of July 24, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )).
  11. ^ Peter Kieß: Criminal proceedings against Alex W. at the Dresden Regional Court. Judgment of November 11, 2009. (No longer available online.) Dresden Regional Court , November 11, 2009, archived from the original on December 7, 2009 ; accessed on December 24, 2016 (press release).
  12. ^ Protests in Iran because of the murder of an Egyptian woman in Dresden. In: Mittelbayerische Zeitung . June 11, 2009, accessed September 16, 2019 .
  13. ^ Dresden murder: Ahmadinejad calls for Germany's condemnation , Focus Online , July 12, 2009.
  14. ↑ a b Gudrun Harrer: "... is for us the Muslim brood" . In: The Standard . July 24, 2009 ( online at derStandard.at ).
  15. ↑ Anja Seeliger: A murder that Germany ignored. In: The Guardian . July 10, 2009, accessed December 24, 2016 .
  16. ↑ a b c Christian Denso, Martin Spiewak, Michael Thumann and Bernd Ulrich: Mord in Dresden: Our fear , in: Die Zeit , No. 30, July 16, 2009.
  17. ↑ Hilal Sezgin: The pure German conscience , in: taz , July 22, 2009.
  18. ↑ Turkish Press Europe of July 10, 2009 - Islam, Dresden, Youth Welfare Office, Turkey , in: MiGAZIN , July 11, 2009.
  19. ^ After the murder in Dresden: Ex-Muslims against instrumentalization by Muslim associations. In: FAZ.net . July 12, 2009, accessed December 24, 2016 .
  20. ↑ Warning of a perfidious smear campaign against human rights criticism of Islam on Hintergrund-verlag.de
  21. ↑ Tarafa Baghajati: What else has to happen? , Guest comment in: Die Presse , July 8, 2009.
  22. ↑ Statute of Marwa Elsherbiny Culture and Education Center Dresden
  23. ↑ Muslim Brotherhood , Protection of the Constitution of Saxony, accessed on August 30, 2019
  24. ^ Street naming Marwa-El-Sherbini-Platz , Transparency Portal Bremen, September 12, 2018.
  25. ↑ Alexander Schneider: Dispute over a swing ends fatally ( memento from February 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), in: Sächsische Zeitung , July 2, 2009.
  26. ↑ Politicians at memorial event for murdered Egyptian woman , in: Sächsische Zeitung , July 11, 2009 ( online ( memento of September 11, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )).
  27. ↑ Alliance "Dresden for Democracy" - basic consensus ( Memento from February 16, 2007 in the web archive archive.today )
  28. ↑ Wolfgang Donsbach: Open letter on the topic of xenophobia in Dresden: "Dresden - wake up!" ( Memento from August 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), published on July 12, 2009 (PDF; 93 kB).
  29. ^ Project page on the Bürger.Courage homepage, accessed on March 3, 2017
  30. ↑ Murdered Egyptian woman in Dresden - unknown people destroy memorial for Marwa El-Sherbini. An art project in memory of Marwa El-Sherbini, who was murdered in Dresden a year ago, was partially destroyed. The police are investigating. In: Hamburger Abendblatt . July 23, 2010, accessed on August 31, 2015 : “Up to 18 concrete steles in the form of a knife should be set up all over Dresden, which, according to the association, stand for“ the many small and large stitches and injuries ”that people face every day suffer through hidden or overt racism. Two of the eight steles erected so far have now been knocked over and damaged by strangers, one of these steles had already been overturned a week ago. According to the association, the destroyed steles should not be erected again. "
  31. ↑ The only known perpetrators were two drunk punks who could be arrested immediately after their act. See Twelve Daggers Against Oblivion. Badische Zeitung online from August 7, 2010, accessed on March 3, 2017
  32. ↑ Hiba Omari is the first recipient of the Marwa El-Sherbini grant in Dresden. In: dresden.de. State capital Dresden, October 2, 2012, accessed on December 23, 2016 (press release).
  33. ↑ Dresden.? - Working with the city. In: dresden.de. State capital Dresden, May 18, 2015, accessed on August 17, 2015 (press release).
  34. ↑ Interview and photos on monopol-magazin.de from July 17, 2015, accessed on March 3, 2017
  35. ↑ On and under the carpet. , taz-online from June 12, 2015, accessed on March 3, 2017
personal data
SURNAME El-Sherbini, Marwa
ALTERNATIVE NAMES El-Sherbini, Marwa Ali (full name); مروة على الشربيني (Arabic)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Egyptian handball player, pharmacist and victim of racism
DATE OF BIRTH 7th October 1977
PLACE OF BIRTH Alexandria , Egypt
DATE OF DEATH July 1, 2009
Place of death Dresden