Headscarf 'martyr'
November 4, 2009
Defendant Alex W. is on trial for allegedly stabbing Egyptian national Marwa al-Shirbini 18 times during a July hearing in the eastern German city of Dresden. He had been appealing against a fine he was ordered to pay for verbally abusing the woman at a city playground in August 2008.
In a statement, Alex W. said he did not understand why he stabbed the 31-year-old mother of one.
"It is correct that I am xenophobic, but that was not my motive," the 28-year-old Russia-born German said in the statement, adding that he acted under stress caused by the appeal hearing and the possibility of imprisonment.
He said he had felt "powerless" and "victimized" during the legal process, and had been suffering from depression and a drug-induced state prior to the July hearing.
Alex W. stands accused of murder, attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm. Al-Shirbini's widower, Elwy Ali Okaz, was also stabbed when he tried to intervene and was critically wounded when a security guard called to the scene shot him in the leg, apparently mistaking him for the attacker.
The killing triggered protests in several Arab cities, including al-Shirbini's hometown of Alexandria in Egypt, where she was dubbed the "headscarf martyr."
dfm/AP/dpa
Editor: Nancy Isenson