We get it; you are all Charlie Hebdo! Freedom of expression and thought is important to you. If only you could also be sincere. It is freedom when it as about a European but does it matter when it is about a Muslim?
I had written an article in this column on Oct. 30, 2013 titled “Do you remember Marwa El-Sherbini?” Marwa El-Sherbini could have been the Dreyfus affair of Muslims. But it didn’t become that. This incident that occurred in the German city of Dresden, where the Pegida (Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West) movement gathered momentum, was the most significant event to reveal Europe’s sorry situation. There is benefit in recalling this incident.
The Egyptian Marwa El-Sherbini, who worked in a pharmacy in the German city of Dresden, came across Alexander W, an ethnic German immigrant from Russia, in a children’s playground in the city in 2008. El-Sherbini, who wore a headscarf, requested Alexander W to make space so that her son could use the swing. Instead of reacting positively to this like any civilized person would, Alexander W insulted and used vile swear words, calling El-Sherbini an “Islamist,” “bitch,” and “terrorist.”
El-Sherbini filed a complaint against him in court. The Dresden State Court imposed a fine of 780 Euros on the Russian citizen of German descent, Alexander W. The prosecutor’s office, however, applied to a higher court because it deemed the penalty was not severe enough and because the defendant felt no regret. Alexander W continued to behave in a similar manner during the trial and continued insulting El-Sherbini.
The worst possible scenario imaginable came to pass though. Marwa El-Sherbini continued to pursue her rights in a higher court. Alexander W attacked El-Sherbini when she was returning to her seat in the courtroom after giving her statement. He stabbed her 18 times in a short time. Furthermore, he maintained his abusive and insulting demeanor while stabbing her, and told her, “You don’t have the right to live.” During this incident, Marwa El-Sherbini, who was in her third month of pregnancy, died in front of her three-year-old son and husband. This event occurred in a German courtroom in front of police officers, prosecutors and judges; yet no one batted an eyelid. How is it possible that a witness entered the courtroom with a knife?
Wait; it doesn’t end here. There was something even more grave about the incident. Marwar El-Sherbini’s husband intervened to try to protect his wife. At exactly that moment a police officer, who was in the next courtroom where another case was being heard, enters and shoots Marwa El-Sherbini’s husband in the chest and leg, thinking he was the murderer. The poor man was seriously wounded.
The next day the German media runs headlines stating “Defendant kills eyewitness" and officially engages in racism. It perceives the incident to be a simple issue. Even that doesn’t suffice, and Christian Avenarius, the chief prosecutor in Dresden, describes the attacker as a “fanatic who hates foreigners” and closes the case calling it an isolated incident.
Even when the incident was laid bare later, the German and European media continued to persist with the line that the event was just a simple altercation. It was only the Central Council of Jews in Germany that strongly condemned this incident. Stephan Kramer, the secretary general of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, stated they were very concerned about the incident and said, “It can now be seen that those who rejected the debate about animosity against Islam in Germany and deemed it insubstantial, have been proved to be liars in the wake of this incident.” This statement shocked the European Christian world.
You might think that was the end of it, but it wasn’t. Concrete stelae shaped like knives were erected in front of the courthouse and five other locations in Dresden in memory of Merve El-Sherbini. But five of them were vandalized by unknown persons. The police announced that they failed to locate any of the perpetrators during the investigation (!) they conducted.
Nothing was achieved despite all the demonstrations and condemnations issued by the Egyptian government of the time and Muslims in Europe. This case could have been transformed into the Dreyfus affair of the Muslims. But even the Muslims stopped pursuing it.
The killing of Marwa El-Sherbini, the shooting of her husband by a police officer thinking he was the murderer and the playing down of the issue by the German and European media present the clearest proof of the dimensions of Islamophobia. The Europeans continue to unashamedly speak of justice, freedom and equality. The woman is dead and an orphaned child is left behind. Let me ask you, where else was this woman supposed to go to seek her rights if not to the court?
Fine, all of you can be Charlie Hebdo but don’t remain unresponsive to these incidents in the heart of Europe. It is shameful, sinful, and very sad!
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