Egypt praises Germany’s naming of Dresden park after Egyptian victim of hate crime

CAIRO – 17 March 2022: Egypt praised a recent decision by the German government to name a park in front of a court in Dresden city after the late Egyptian citizen Marwa el-Sherbini, who was stabbed to death in Germany in 2009.

Khaled Abu Bakr, the lawyer for the Egyptian Defense Authority in the case, published a picture of the garden bearing the late woman’s name, on his Facebook page, commenting: “After more than 10 years .. the German government decided to name a garden, where Marwa el-Sherbini lost her life, after her name.”

The crime took place after a verbal altercation occurred between “Marwa” and German citizen of Russian origin, Alex Wiens, in a children’s park. Wiens insulted her for wearing the Hijab “veil/headscarf covering Muslim Women’s hair”, which prompted her to sue him for verbal abuse and won the case, while he was fined 780 Euros.

While the case was being considered at a court of law in Dresden, Wiens took out a knife from his pocket and stabbed her several times in the court room until she died. Marwa’s husband who was present at the hearing, was also stabbed repeatedly by Wiens, and was shot while the police were trying to intervene.

Marwa was a German resident who was born in Alexandria, Egypt in 1977. Her case dominated newspapers back then, and remained the most prominent incident in Germany at the end of the last decade. Many Islamic facilities around the Europe were named after Marwa, who became known as “The Headscarf Martyr.”