MOSCOW, November 12 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian-born German has been handed a life sentence for murdering a pregnant Muslim woman in a courtroom, a case that sparked outrage in the Muslim world.
On July 1, Alex Wiens inflicted at least 16 stab wounds to a 31-year-old Egyptian woman, Marwa el-Sherbini, who was to testify against him in a defamation case. El-Sherbini, who was three months pregnant with her second child, bled to death in the courtroom.
Wiens, 28, was given a life sentence, which is equivalent to 15 years under German law, without the possibility of early parole.
The case enraged Egypt and other Muslim countries with numerous protests held in the country's capital, Cairo, and El-Sherbini's home city, Alexandria. The Egyptian woman was dubbed the "veil martyr" by the Muslim press, and Islamic believers have already pronounced a death sentence against her murderer.
A week after the murder, German Chancellor Angela Merkel offered her condolences to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, but gave no public comments on the case.
The hearings were held amid tight security with up to 200 armed police guarding the courtroom. Wiens disguised his identity on the way to court.
A spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, Hossam Zaki, welcomed the sentence, saying that it "serves justice" and was "a warning to those motivated by hate."
Egypt's ambassador to Germany, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, said he was "satisfied" with the verdict and that "justice was done," according to Deutsche Welle.
Last year in October, Wiens harassed the woman in a playground, calling her a "terrorist" and "Islamist" because she wore a headscarf. El-Sherbini filed a defamation suit against him, and the court sentenced Wiens to a 780-euro ($1,170) fine.
Wiens appealed the ruling, but the judge opted for a harsher sentence of several months in prison. When the woman repeated her testimony in court, the man attacked her with a knife. He also stabbed the woman's husband several times, who had rushed to help her. The couple's three-year-old son was also in the courtroom during the attack.
