THE family of a veiled Egyptian woman, stabbed to death by a German man of Russian origin last year, has slammed plans by the Egyptian Embassy in Berlin to participate in a commemoration marking the first anniversary of their daughter's death. The family of Marwa el-Sherbini, killed in a German courtroom in Dresden, where her murderer Alex Weins was later imprisoned for life, said yesterday this participation ignored their feelings. "We reject taking part in such a commemoration held by the German authorities, simply because of the negligence in bringing to justice the German policemen who did not protect Marwa," Marwa's brother Tareq said. The place and time of the event, announced by the German government last week, was changed yesterday, after several opposition parties said they would hold a protest at the same place, outside the Dresden courtroom, against the German authorities response to the murder, described by some as racial. "The court also should have been brought to justice for ignoring the letter threatening to kill Marwa," her brother added. On July 1, 2009, el-Sherbini, an Egyptian woman and German resident, was killed during an appeal hearing at a court of law in Dresden. She was stabbed by Wiens, an ethnic German, against whom she had testified in a criminal case for verbal abuse. The death of el-Sherbini, dubbed as the martyr of the veil, immediately resulted in international reactions, with the most vocal responses coming from predominantly Muslim nations. The Egyptian public and media focused attention on the religious and racial hatred aspect of the killing, especially as the initial incident between the victim and perpetrator had occurred because she wore an Islamic headscarf.