German hate crime ends in life sentence

DRESDEN, Germany, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- In a decision that was welcomed by Egyptian officials, a Dresden court handed a life sentence to a Russian-born German who murdered a pregnant Egyptian woman in a shocking racial hate crime.

Alexander Wiens, 28, was sentenced to life in prison with no chance for early parole on Wednesday for the murder of Marwa Sherbini, a 31-year-old pharmacist from Egypt living with her family in Germany.

Motivated by what prosecutors according to the BBC called a "hatred of non-Europeans and Muslims," Wiens stabbed Sherbini at least 16 times.

Egyptian government officials Thursday lauded the verdict, with the Foreign Ministry spokesman calling it a "warning to those motivated by hate."

Both had initially met on a children's playground, where Wiens, who emigrated to Germany from Siberia in 2003, sat on a swing. Sherbini asked him to leave the swing to make room for her son, but Wiens only yelled at her that she was an "Islamist" and a "terrorist."

Sherbini pressed charges against Wiens, who was convicted and fined by a local court for insulting the woman on racial and religious grounds.

Wiens, however, appealed that decision, and it was at the appeals hearing where the murder happened -- in the very same courthouse Wiens was sentenced Wednesday.

For the appeals hearing, Wiens smuggled a 7-inch kitchen knife into the courtroom to attack Sherbini.

"He was convinced that all foreigners were taking work away from him," the presiding judge was quoted as saying by the London Times. "Above all, he hated Muslims. In his eyes they were all Islamists. The fact that he himself came of foreign origin is something that he repressed."

Three months pregnant with her second child, Sherbini bled to death in the presence of her husband and their 3-year-old son, who had accompanied Sherbini to the hearing.

Her husband was also injured when trying to help his wife -- not only by Wiens' knife, but also by a security guard, who believed that the husband was the attacker. He shot him in the leg.

The case enraged the Muslim world, with Egyptians taking to the streets in demand for a harsh sentence. Muslim leaders had issued a fatwa against Wiens, with the proceedings taking place under tight security to prevent a second killing.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle also commented on the verdict.

"This shows that violence, racial hatred and intolerance have no place in Germany," he said.