Reuters Pictures
Defendant Alex W. is brought to the courtroom of the district court in Dresden, November 5, 2009. The trial of a man accused of killing a pregnant Egyptian woman in a German courtroom entered a second week on Monday amid tight security, in a case that has incensed many in the Islamic world. The stabbing in July of 31-year-old Marwa El-Sherbiny, pregnant and a mother to a 3-year-old, prompted accusations that Germany tolerated xenophobia and anti-Islamic views and caused protests in Egypt and Iran. The killing happened in a court in Dresden where the attacker, a German of Russian origin, was appealing a conviction for insulting El-Sherbiny by calling her an "Islamist", "terrorist" and "slut" when she asked him to make room for her son to play on swings in a playground. The killer also stabbed El-Sherbiny's husband and to make matters worse, German police then shot the husband in the leg, having mistaken him for the attacker.
