Racism or Islamophobia?!!

Dr. Marwa Al Sherbiny.. a pregnant woman that has been killed in German's court...


Have you heard any story about Dr. Marwa Al- Sherbiny, an egyptian, who worked an lived in German,has been killed in German's court? This tragedic scene happened on 1st of July 2009 ago...
Most of us didn't know about this because it hasn't been published by the west media and around that time, the whole world are busy with H1N1's issue and the death of Michael Jackson....I only know about this when I've read a post in kak Syuhada's blog(you can link to this blog if you want to read the post)...Then, to make me more understand about it,I've searched more info about Dr. Marwa's issue in google...



Dr marwa in her wedding....

The killing's story is like this...(what I got from my searching..huhu...
At the end of November 2008, (sorry, I don't remember the exact date) while Dr Marwa brought her 3 year-old-son to a park, a man named Alex suddenly called her 'terrorist' just because she was wearing headscarf or hijab.After that, she filed a case against Alex and she won the case. Alex was fine 780 Euros for the insulting marks. But, Alex appealed towards the verdict. Then, on 1st of July, when Dr. Marwa was about to give evidence in the court,in front of her beloved son, suddenly the defendant attacked her and stabbed her 18 times! I repeat again, 18 times? Can you believe it? She died on the spot...(forget to mention that she was 3/4 months pregnant at that time...)
At the time attacking scene happened, her husband was going to help her...but instead of saving his wife, a policeman shot him! (What the..?! the attacker did not injured at all!) Moreover, Dr. Marwa' husband also has been stabbed by the defendant 3 times! Now, he is in critical condition....

The questions are, where were other people? where are the policemen? Why they didn't just shoot the attacker? Are they think this only show that you should just watch it?How the defendant can bring a knife to the court? why the police let the defendant having interaction with plaintiff? where are all west media? why they did not publish the case? What is the value of a human's life in front of you people? Is it just because we are muslims? Just because we are wearing our hijab? You stabbed a woman just because she covers her aurat and practice her religion? where is the justice ? open your eyes, world!!!!




to know more about this just search 'Killing of Dr. Marwa Al Sherbiny' in youtube...you'll find many videos...

Below I've 'copy pasted' some articles about Dr Marwa in some blogs...(just let me know how you feel after reading this post ok?)

1st post :


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Marwa Al-Sherbini: Killed For Wearing A Headscarf But At What Point Do We Say “Enough”?07Jul09


Let me break down this story to see if I have it right (if anything, for my own sanity).

A 31-year old, headscarf-wearing Egyptian Muslim woman, Marwa Al-Sherbini, who was about four months pregnant, takes her German neighbor to court for calling her a “terrorist”. Now, in the courtroom, the neighbor, Alex W., stabs her 18 times right in front of her 3-year old son.

Her husband, a research fellow, tries to come to her rescue and ends up not only getting stabbed as well by the attacker, but is actually mistaken for the attacker and shot by the security guard.

This case was so mind-baffling when I read it a few days ago and I still haven’t been able to wrap my mind around it. Many questions and thoughts have been floating around in my head, and I hate to admit it but the most pertinent one that rests right at the foreground of my brain is based on two words: 18 times.

I am not a forensic scientist but I’ve seen enough Hollywood movies to know that stabbing someone 18 times isn’t a task that you get done in 5 or 10 seconds unless you’re the cyborg or a robot sent from the future. 18 times.

How long did it take for people in the courtroom to realize this woman was being stabbed and that someone should do something about it?

18 times.

Seriously, try stabbing the wind 18 times right now as quickly as possible.

Go ahead.

I’ll wait.

See what I’m saying?

Oh, and add to that her husband getting stabbed three times by the same guy before the tragedy came to an end (with the husband being shot).

Now I know this is a question that might seem silly or even absurd in light of this event. I know a better debate is being framed elsewhere (thanks to Egyptian bloggers). I know that a great deal of the conversation that centers around this case has been with regards to the lack of western coverage (what did they expect?) and the outrage in Egypt (what did they expect?) and the outrage to come from the perhaps various parts of the Muslim world (what did they expect?) or the rising Islamophobia in the West (what did they expect?), but while all these conversations are valid and have their own time and context to consider, for some reason, I remain mesmerized by this number: 18.

18 times.

Strictly on a human level, how long does it take for someone to react. To move. To say “stop”. To say “enough”. Strictly on a human level. No religion. No gender. Just a human being watching one human being slaughtered by another.

How long does it take?

How does that number reach 18?

See, this is what’s been getting to me lately. In my head, this number, 18, rings incredibly significant. I recognize that there’s evil in this world, and that there always will be. There are breaking limits in this world and I recognize that too. There are numbers that weigh heavy on the human soul, and every one has one. It’s unmistakable. It’s undeniable. Often times we have absolutely no control over them and we relieve ourselves of any responsibilities. Like Tolstoy would put it, we pretend to simply be kings who are slaves to the whims of history. But often times, we do.

Often times, and not all the time, but some of the time, we do.

Often times these things happen right in front of us.

On our watch.

On our watch, these numbers take shape.

For Marwa Al-Sherbini that magical number was eighteen.

But what’s the body count in Iraq today?

What about the West Bank or Gaza?

What about in Darfur?

What’s their magic number? What’s their breaking limit?

At what point do we say “enough”?

More importantly.

At what point will we mean it?


2nd post :
On Marwa al-Sherbiny

Michael Collins Dunn blogs about Marwa al-Sherbini, an Egyptian woman murdered in Germany, and the outrage her death has caused in Egypt, so I don’t have to:

Sherbini was a young (32 years old) mother killed in a German court — yes, in an open courtroom during a judicial sesssion — in Dresden July 1 in front of her three-year old son. She was stabbed (18 times) in the courtroom by a xenophobic German who had previously attacked her as a “terrorist” for wearing hijab, leading her to lodge a complaint against him. He was appealing a fine when he stabbed her. Adding insult to injury, when her husband sought to protect her from her attacker, the security in the courtroom shot the husband, not the attacker. (As one person notes in one of the links, “he wasn’t blond so he must be the attacker.”) And to add more insult to that one, the prosecutor initially charged the attacker with manslaughter (for stabbing someone 18 times in an open courtroom?). (Now there are reports the charge will be changed to murder.)

Oh, sorry, now it appears she was also pregnant with her second child. And why, exactly, are people outraged? Oh, right. All these reasons.

It’s received very little coverage in Europe or the US, and that fact as well as the crime itself has outraged the Egyptian street to a remarkable degree. Her body was met at Cairo airport; thousands reportedly turned out for her funeral in Alexandria. Everyone from the Sheikh al-Azhar on down to the most secularist bloggers are expressing concern. The Egyptian blogosphere has been awash with postings, many noting that the killing of Neda Soltan in Iran (by the government, admittedly) led to Western outrage, while the killing of a Muslim mother in a European courtroom by a man clearly motivated by hatred of Islam and Muslims, is ignored.

I first noticed the Egyptian outrage about Marwa on Twitter, where the #marwa tag has been popular in recent days. Most of the complaints are about her death is not covered in the “MSM”, the stupid inaccurate blogo-acronym for mainstream media. Except that it is being thoroughly covered by the Arab media, so the complaints are, I suppose, about how it’s not dislodging Michael Jackson’s death and Sarah Palin’s resignation from the top items. And about how there’s a double-standard about her death compared to Neda Agha-Soltan’s death. Except of course the latter took place in the middle of the biggest protests in Tehran in decades, as part of a story on potential massive political fraud and a hardline coup in Iran, at a time when the country is perhaps the biggest story of the year. And her agony was caught on camera.

So really we’re looking at more “clash of civilizations” style victimhood. Of course the Marwa al-Sherbiny case is outrageous, it is a racist murder that took place in courtroom. But do we have to compare it to other news stories? And do we have to ask that the mainstream media in the West (which I advise to simply stop watching, at least TV) cover it? There are countless racist murders and attacks around the world all the time. This one is particularly nasty, but is the most important thing to do about it protest in front of the German embassy in Cairo (as if the German government is responsible) or complain that it’s not covered on CNN (although there was excellent coverage on al-Jazeera English)? Is it not enough that it’s a major story in most Arab media?

Also see this BBC report.

Update: I knew this post would upset people (see comments), and that was not my intention. As I said, it was a horrible crime. But by your logic, then I will say that Egyptians are racist against Egyptians: in 2007, I don’t remember much of a fuss being made about a 13-year-old boy tortured by police in Mansoura and who ended up dying in his mother’s arms a few days later. Or does it only matter when an Egyptian gets killed abroad?