A German court sentenced a Russian-born German man to life imprisonment on Wednesday for murdering a pregnant Egyptian Muslim woman, a crime that sparked outrage in the Muslim world.

Alex Wiens, 28, had stabbed to death headscarved Marwa El-Sherbini, 31 and expecting her second child, with an 18-centimetre (seven-inch) kitchen knife in the same courthouse where he was sentenced on Wednesday.

Wiens who stabbed Marwa al-Sherbini more than 16 times with an 18-centimetre (seven-inch) kitchen knife in what they call a racist assault.

Wiens has confessed to killing the headscarved Sherbini -- dubbed the "veil martyr" in Arab media -- in the same courthouse where he stood trial.

"Act in cold blood"

Prosecutors in the eastern city of Dresden said he was in fact driven "by an overwhelming, unbridled hatred of foreigners."

The chief prosecutor, Frank Heinrich, told the court on Monday that Wiens, who he said had thrown himself upon his victim like a "maniac", had offered "not one word" of contrition for his brutal act.

"The accused planned the act in cold blood," Heinrich added.

Sherbini's husband, Elwy Okaz, suffered multiple stab wounds when he rushed to the aid of his wife, three months pregnant at the time with their second child.

In the ensuing confusion, Okaz, 32, was also shot in the leg by a guard.

Okaz told Wiens' trial in October that his son Mustafa, then aged three-and-a-half, watched his mother bleed to death.

Mustafa, who now lives in Egypt with relatives, misses his mother, he said. "He is suffering too."

Thousands of people marched in Sherbini's home city of Alexandria, protests were held accusing the West of Islamophobia and top clerics branded Wiens a "terrorist."

Marwa took her 3-year old son Mostapha to play in a Dresden park. Wiens insulted her because of wearing headscarf and called her a "terrorist". She filed a case against him in German courts after the incident.

When she won the case, the court fined him the €780 for having abused her. But German man appealed against the verdict.

After Sherbini had testified at an appeal in July 2009 and left the witness stand, he pulled a knife he had smuggled into the courtroom and stabbed her.

Who is Marwa?

Marwa Sherbini was a star pupil at her Alexandria School, El Nasr Girls' College (EGC), one of the oldest and most prestigious educational establishments for girls in Alexandria. Her personality and academic achievements led to her selection as Head Girl of the school before she joined the Faculty of Pharmacy at Alexandria University, graduating in 2000 with flying colors. After she got married to Elwy Okaz, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute, she moved with him to Germany.


Agencies