Headscarf Martyr Proves European Bias against Muslims

Source: alarbiya.net, 08-07-2009

Marwa al-Sherbini, a 32-year-old Egyptian-German, a pregnant Muslim woman in Germany who has become known as the "hijab martyr" was stabbed to death 18 times Wednesday as she prepared to testify against her assailant, who was in court to appeal a previous defamation conviction against her.

Marwa's assailant, known only as Alex W., had been convicted and fined €750 ($1,050) last year for calling Sherbini a "terrorist," and "Islamist" after she asked him to leave a swing for her three-year-old son Mustafa. Alex also stabbed Marwa's husband while he was trying to save her.

And adding further insult to injury, a security guard shot the Husband Okaz in the leg because he mistook the husband for the attacker because of his ethnic looks according to German prosecutors.

Marwa was buried in her coastal hometown of Alexandria, Egypt, Monday amid demonstrations by Egyptians mourning her senseless death and calling for retribution.

Outrage over the murder of Marwa mounted Tuesday following her funeral and protests in her native Egypt over what Muslims see as European Islamophobia and western media double standards.

Grand Imam Sheikh Mohammad Sayyed Tantawi told Egypt's official MENA news agency. "The killer is a terrorist who should receive severe punishment for what he has done, something that contradicts all the values of humanity, decency and religion,"

Many said the incident showed the extent to which hate crimes against Muslims are ignored while those of Muslims against westerners are over-hyped.

Many also in Sherbini's homeland were outraged by the attack and saw the low key response in Germany as an example of racism and anti-Muslim sentiment.
Others said that if the victim had been a Jew, there would have been an uproar.

The repercussions of Sherbini's merciless killing rippled through new media.

An Egyptian blogger Hicham Maged wrote that it simply proved anti-Muslim sentiment in Europe.
One commentator pointed to muted response by Western media as proof of double standards against Muslims as Sherbini's murder comes as western media continued to reference the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh for his controversial film on Muslim women but meanwhile ignoring the-week-old death of a Muslim German woman by a European fundamentalist.

A Facebook fan page created recently drew a whooping 300,000 fans in less than a week, with many mourning Sherbini as a martyr and calling for spiritual purification.

Alexandria's Popular Local Council said it would name a street after Sherbini to commemorate her senseless killing.