A Russian-born German citizen who stabbed a pregnant Egyptian woman to death during a court hearing in July has been sentenced to life in prison. The case of 28-year-old Alex Wiens has shocked Germany and outraged the Muslim world.

The Dresden state court also ruled that Wiens would not be eligible for early release. Wiens admitted stabbing Marwa El-Sherbini - who was expecting her second child - to death in the courtroom in front of her husband and three-year-old son. Her husband was wounded while coming to his wife's defence.

The case started with an argument in a playground in 2008. Ms El-Sherbini, a pharmacist, apparently asked Wiens to let her child use a playground swing he was sitting on. Wiens reacted by calling Ms El-Sherbini, who wore a headscarf, abusive anti-Muslim names. She later took the defendant to court and he was fined for defamation. During an appeal hearing on 1 July this year, Wiens smuggled a knife into the courtroom and stabbed Ms El-Sherbini with it.

Many Muslim leaders accused Germany of Islamophobia following the incident. Ms El-Sherbini was named "the martyr of the hijab" and her funeral was attended by thousands in Egypt.

Wiens has denied that anti-Muslim sentiments were the reason for the attack, but prosecutors claim he was motivated by a "hatred of non-Europeans and Muslims". Wiens has been given the maximum penalty.