Germany commemorates Egypt's 'veil martyr'

Thousands of people gathered at a service in Germany on Saturday to pay their respects to the 'hijab martyr' or Marwa Sherbini while hundreds of Iranians showed their anger by pelting the German embassy in Tehran with eggs.

Many in Germany remembered Sherbini, 32, who was stabbed to death in a courtroom by a man who had called her a "terrorist," as an ideal citizen and mother who worked hard along with her husband to secure a future for their family in Germany.

"She was an excellent woman who died because of her beliefs," said a German Iraqi woman at the service.

The 32-year-old Sherbini was three months pregnant when she was knifed 18 times on July 1 as she gave evidence in a court in Dresden, eastern Germany.

Several portraits of the young woman, who wore the headscarf, were on the steps of the city's town hall for Saturday's remembrance ceremony.

Eggs and German embassy

Also on Saturday around 150 Islamist students pelted the German embassy in Tehran with eggs to protest the murder of Sherbini.

The Iranian students chanted "Death to Germany! Death to Europe!" as they wrote "Angela, the Nazi" on a sidewall of the embassy, referring to German chancellor Angela Merkel, the photographer said.

Death to Germany! Death to Europe

Iranian protest

On Friday, Iran had summoned Herbert Honsowitz, Berlin's ambassador to Tehran, and protested against the murder and urged Berlin to step up efforts to protect the rights of the minorities there.

Muslim groups have dubbed Sherbini's death as the "veil murder" and her killing drew thousands of mourners at her funeral Monday in Alexandria, Egypt.

Sherbini's husband, geneticist Elwi Ali Okaz, is in a critical condition in a hospital after he too was stabbed by the assailant and also shot in the leg by confused police who took him for the attacker.

The unemployed 28-year-old attacker, identified only as Alex W., was in court appealing against an earlier conviction and fine for calling Sherbini a "terrorist" for wearing the Islamic headscarf during a dispute.

The director of the ultra-conservative Kayhan newspaper has meanwhile called on Muslims to carry out the "revolutionary death penalty" against Sherbini's murderer in an editorial published Saturday.