A German man found guilty of murdering a pregnant Egyptian woman in a courtroom was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole today, after a high-profile case which has stirred emotions across both Germany and the Middle East, dpa reported. Marwa el-Shirbini, an Egyptian pharmacist, was stabbed to death in July by Alex Wiens during a hearing in a Dresden court where he had been fined for racially-abusing her as an "Islamist" and a "slut." El-Shirbini"s husband was shot and injured by police as he tried to save his pregnant wife. The judge in Wednesday"s trial said 28-year-old Wiens must pay back all "material and immaterial damage" to the family of the victim. Judge Birgit Wiegand told the court that Wiens must pay for the crime and its effects on the parents, the widow, the brother and the three-year-old son of the 31-year-old victim. Wiens was sentenced to life imprisonment without automatic parole - the highest sentence for murder in Germany. The sentence virtually rules out the possibility of release after 15 years - which is often the case in murder convictions. Wiegand added that Wiens, who was born and grew up in Russia but moved to Germany with his family as an adult, had developed a hatred for foreigners partly because he was unemployed. Wiens stabbed the pregnant el-Shirbini to death in front of her son, and severely injured her husband during a hearing in a Dresden courtroom on July 1, where he faced a fine for calling her an "Islamist" and a "slut". The murder of el-Shirbini, who wore the Islamic headscarf, was received with outrage in Egypt and the Arab world, as many suspected that she had been killed merely because she was a Muslim. In Cairo on Wednesday, the sentence was greeted as the right one, although some called for the death penalty. "This was the correct verdict," 20-year old Ahmed Said said. "The punishment fits the crime, 100 per cent." But Hanan Mohammed Mostafa, a 54-year old nurse, said: "This was an utterly heinous crime. Life in prison is too little. He should have been executed. He took an innocent woman"s life. Marwa"s only "crime" was being a Muslim." Osama Tharwat, a 23-year old cook, agreed. "This was a disgraceful crime. He should have been executed, especially considering that he took her unborn baby"s life as well. I just hope he realises the enormity of his crime in prison." The original incident between the two had occurred in 2008, in a children"s playground in the city. Wiens had been sitting on a swing, and responded with the insults when el-Shirbini asked him to move to make way for her son. The Egyptian ambassador to Egypt, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, said that he was very happy with the sentence. Wiegand said that in the eyes of the murderer, all Muslims were Islamists. During the trial Wiens admitted that he hated foreigners, although he denied that the murder had been a racist act. He later said that he had "ruined" his own life, and wished that he had killed himself. During the trial he remained covered with a blue hooded sweatshirt and a facial mask, and mostly stared at the floor, apart from one outburst when he had to be restrained. During the trial the court was told that Wiens had had a history of schizophrenia, but that he could not plead diminished responsibility in his defence. His defence had team argued for a verdict of manslaughter. On Wednesday around 100 German Muslims protested in Dresden against anti-Islam incitement on the internet. The participants called on the government to act against internet sites that preach hatred against Islam and Muslims.
