This post has been revised and updated —ed.
Marwa Sherbini was assaulted and murdered—not just assaulted and murdered but murdered in plain daylight—not just daylight but in a courtroom in the democratic, egalitarian Western nation of Germany. This was not a remote village in Somalia, or a Taliban-controlled village in Pakistan, or any random militia-ruled town without paved roads, police, emergency hotlines, elevators and cell-phones. It was a courtroom in Dresden. It was within the very space where justice is delivered.
Alex W. saw her as a walking veil which reduced her to a terrorist in his eyes. She was not a walking veil, nor should her supporters reduce her to one. She was a human being. Alex insulted her for her headscarf and her religion. She and her husband, trusting in the justice system, sought state protection from such attacks.
Well, Alex W. showed Marwa. He showed her and immigrants all over the world, to keep their mouths shut, to suck it up, and to deal with verbal insults or even physical ones—but to withdraw to their holes and preserve their own and their children’s lives. To protest, to defend yourselves to speak out, is dangerous, and could mean death.
Marwa was a person. She was a former handball champion. She loved her child and her eyes brightened when she saw him smile. Her husband would lay down his life for her. She may have enjoyed soccer, preferred Coke over Pepsi, struggled with Windows Vista, hated acrylic sweaters, loved the smell of rain, missed her family in Egypt and cried when they called her, and suffered from dust allergies. She was a living human being—at least until the hatred channeled through Alex W. struck her down.
Shot her? No. Not so easy. Stabbed her. In a courtroom. Once? Twice? No, 18 times.
She was a wife, whose husband is in critical condition after trying to save her life. His misfortune deserves mention: it seems he was injured both by Alex W. and by a policeman’s shots.
She was a mother. Her three-year-old child, Mustafa, was in the courtroom when she was murdered. My own daughter is three. She is fully aware of any pain and any anxiety I experience. She won’t let a physician or a hair-dresser touch me without registering loud protest. I cannot imagine the trauma this child experienced when his mother was killed before his eyes. I don’t want to imagine what this will do to his sense of self and security.
She was the mother of a murdered child, too. The fetus in her womb was three months old. It may have been a girl. The little girl might have had curly black hair and dimples, an excellent singing voice, and an unfortunate love for the PowerPuff Girls. But she is far below dust now.
I cannot understand why the news article I read on this subject merely records how newspapers in the “Muslim world” have expressed outrage for the martyr of the hijab. I cannot understand why German and indeed European newspapers, politicians, feminists, mothers, husbands, citizens have not made themselves heard. Where are their voices? Where is their outrage? How come a BBC piece does not find their voices either audible or newsworthy? Muslims are justly asked why they don’t protest against extremism and sexism in their communities. Is it fair to ask for similar condemnation of violence and murder in plain sight of law enforcement and in the spaces of law and justice?
As a Pakistani in the US, I am shocked and terrified by the recent bomb blasts in Pakistani cities. I am shaken to the core by the seeming frailty of law enforcement before armed militants. I protest and register my shock. My sympathies lie with the German citizenry: this is after all an attack on their sense of security too. If one man full of hate can murder a woman in a courtroom, where one is supposedly safer than anywhere else, who is safe in Dresden? Who can plead for justice anymore, without fearing for their lives?
Tags: axel w, germany, headscarf, hijab, marwa sherbini, murder, muslim women, muslims, veil
It is not particularly shocking for humans to be more interested in the protests of other humans than they are in the humanity of other humans. Nor is it particularly shocking that some are most interested in waiting to see if German courtrooms become the next Jyllands-Posten.
I feel tears, heartache, anger. How can a woman be stabbed 18 times in a German courtroom? How can the husband who was trying to protect her be shot by security? The child, the child. I, an American, join Muslims and Egyptians in mourning and protest. Marwa Sherbini was standing up for freedom. Remember her name. Marwa Sherbini. Pray for her family.
I think the fault is more of the news media than of the people. I'm certainly not Muslim (I'm atheist) and I certainly don't live in a Muslim country (the US), yet I know for my own part I felt outraged and depressed when I read about Ms Sherbini's murder. I'm sure that was the reaction of countless others: it was a crime of racist hatred against an innocent young woman who'd already felt the brunt of racist hatred, and it was deeply abhorrent.
I as a muslim condemn what happened to this human being ! and i really think people around the globe try to unviel their masks ... this is the solution to all what is happenening in the whole world !
and i really think this incident is a tragedy and really can't believe what has happened ! my eyes full of tears , a female which is pregnant have left carelessly ! what a waste
The outrage is that the courtroom security was so lax he was able to get to her. Of course there are hateful people out there. Some of them speak in mosques.
This is very sad. To see a pregnant mother killed inf ront of her 3 year orld son for what she believes? Freedom of expression and speech is all about other not interfering with what you believe. Muslims are free if they want to wear the head-scarf and that should not get you killed. The west is trying to ban the head-scarf (i.e. France) isn't that putting a ban on freedom of speech. The Nuns put a cover of their heads, the virgin Mary has a scarf on her head (see her pictures). The West has mad a big deal about the cartoonist who made insulting drawings about the prophet and everyone called this freedom of speech. Why do the west critisize others but not themself.
Crusade Crusade !
you muzlimz are mourning about only one woman killed by an innocent man who probably was scared of the muslims extremists
and if i ask you what about the world trade center attacks how many innocent people died there?
I think every muzlim woman should be treated like afya sidiki and marwa shebreni
I find this comment extremely sad because it is an example of the roots of violence. I pray that "Crusade" might find a way past his/her fear and hatred.
Many people writing here are, like myself, Christians. We also mourn the death of this beautiful woman and the pain of her family.
crusade you seem like your probably the brother of the murderer.In Islam every soul is precious.I think you should be treated like a criminal.
thats all bad !!
There has been some (very limited) analysis of the Islamophobia which led to this in German leftist media, notably the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper's website ( http://www.fr-aktuell.de/ ) and the Marxist Junge Welt website ( http://www.jungewelt.de/ ).
However the Berlin leftist newspaper ( http://www.taz.de ) has disgracefully focused only on Muslim reaction to this as if was somehow nothing to do with them.
As to the mainstream rightist media if Der Spiegel is typical (they have a section in English http://www.spiegel.de , their article from July 7th is entitled 'EGYPTIAN FURY AT DRESDEN MURDER' ), this really is almost unbelievably irresponsible.
As to the German goverment's quoted response 'German government spokesman Thomas Steg said Chancellor Angela Merkel had reacted "very emotionally" to the incident. "If there's a xenophobic, racist background to this case, the government of course condemns it in the strongest terms," he said.'
To me the latter lukewarm comment seems almost dismissive of the outrage. When are Germans going to wake up to the appalling racism in their midst that allowed this to happen?
I have to confess I have been a bit unfair to the Berlin newspaper Tagezeitung ( http://www.taz.de ) . Out of 4 articles on their website in which they mentioned this incident they did mention the issue of Islamophobia once (though this was a very short report). However Berlin is at the center of former East Germany, (Dresden being in the south), one would expect more detailed analysis/reaction from a serious newspaper.
Finally a good article in Berlin newspaper Tageszeitung today ( http://www.taz.de/1/politik/deutschland/ ) covering the protest against the killing in Dresden (for those who can read German)
Very good analysis of German media reaction in UK Guardian newspaper website;
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/germany
(Article title; A murder that Germany ignored )
In a phone call with Al Arabiya, Marwa's brother, Tariq Sherbini, said, "Extremism has no religion. My sister was killed simply because she wore the veil. This incident clearly shows that extremism is not limited to one religion or another and it is not exclusively carried out by Muslims."
I want to add irrespective of whether or not wearing veil, muslim girls are being assassinated and targeted victimized.
American Dictator and Smiley Cow Hosni Mobarak should resign if he can't punish those for a murder inside German Justice Sanctuary.
----------
BaghdadToBasra.blogspot.com
They knew he was vicious, he should have been chained up.
People involved in court cases often hate each other.
Muslim girls are being targeted in muslim societies as well. Perhaps they will become an endangered species.
Being knifed 18 times in a courtroom and having a policeman shoot the husband of the victim instead of the attacker has to be a mite unusual. Anyway great to see yet another facetious comment, the process of dumbing down continues apace, (no doubt encouraged by excessive TV violence).. lovely.
What went on in that courtroom was grotesque, tragic, disgusting. So is the murder of the innocents going on daily. Nothing facetious about it. The remark was bitter.
Focusing on one atrocity does not mean that one is indifferent to all the others going on. There simply is so much injustice in the world one is forced to focus on those things one knows about or that one feels one can do something about.
I agree with your comment about focusing on a particular injustice to the exclusion of every other injustice in the world that has ever happenned and is happenning and will ever happen.
I have chosen to be educated and aware and notice injustice in one particular part of history: that of the African American experience in the United States. By learning and experiencing on a personal level the facts of this group in the history of our country, I am much more equipped to understand other injustices when it comes to bias and prejudice of other groups.
I was previously Islamophobic. Although I am an agnostic former catholic, perphaps I am trying to make up for my sins/karma in some way? Anyway there is a worry abroad (in Europe, but I think it is also the case in America) that the type of sentiment that was previously anti-semitic/anti-jewish has somehow tranferred onto muslims. Hence the phenonum of Islamophobia
Please excuse my previous irony
In the court of justice
Rose "Marwa" to Heaven;
The lady to her best fate came
She was ever so proud
Of every thing,
So the knife not to blame.
The mother in her best order
With "Mustafa" and welcomed fetus
Had to weep of flooding upset,
Of hearts like ice
Yet won she all the matter
In the court of justice
Let Shakespeare her witnessed
Let Michael Anglo her seen
They would have so greeted
With words and roses in the scene;
(The martyr Marwa queen of ladies
In the court of justice)
Is the Hitler spirit turning from Jews to Muslims now?
Watch out.
Comments closed
The comments for this story have been closed. Thank you to everyone who participated.