The Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement issued on Sunday that the government in Cairo hired a team of senior German lawyers to defend the interests of the deceased woman's family and to secure the maximum penalty allowed by German law.

The ministry said Egypt had faith in the independence of the German legal system and its ability to ensure justice for the family of the deceased.

The trial began on Monday in Dresden in the same courthouse in which Alex W. stabbed and killed 31-year-old Marwa al-Shirbini on July 1 this year.

Alex W., 28, who was born in Russia, stands accused of murder, attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm.

Killing sparked protests in Muslim world

The man, classed by police as xenophobic, stabbed Shirbini, a pharmacist, during an appeal hearing against a fine he was ordered to pay for verbally abusing the woman at a city playground in August 2008.

Shirbini, who at the time was pregnant with her second child, was in court with her husband and three-year-old son when the defendant lunged at her with a knife and stabbed her 18 times, killing her.

Her husband was also stabbed when he tried to intervene and and was critically wounded when a security guard called to the scene shot him in the leg, apparently confusing him for the attacker.

The killing triggered protests in Shirbini's native Alexandria, Egypt, where she was dubbed the "headscarf martyr."

Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her condolences to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit in Italy this summer, but German officials generally appeared slow to respond to the killing. That was widely interpreted in the Muslim world as evidence of a deep-rooted Islamophobia in Germany.

The incident also led to calls from Iran for Germany to be condemned by the United Nations.

Tight security at trial

Ahead of Monday's trial, security has been ramped up at the Dresden court, where the July attack took place. Some 200 police officers will be deployed at the court and bulletproof glass has been installed in the courtroom

Police said there was "an abstract danger," but had no concrete evidence an attack was planned on the defendant.

Members of al-Sherbini's family, including her husband, Elwy Ali Okaz, are to act as co-plantiffs in the trial, as is allowed under German law - allowing them to review evidence, file motions and question witnesses. The trial is scheduled to last 11 days.

Meanwhile, a police spokeswoman in Dresden confirmed a report in news magazine Der Spiegel that the defendant, Alex W. had received an Internet death threat at the beginning of August by a person who identified himself as Sheikh Ihab Adli Abu al-Majid.

The one-hour web broadcast included a call for Muslims living in Germany to kill the accused, a 28-year-old man identified as Alex W.

German orchestra cancels concerts

Meanwhile, a prominent German orchestra has cancelled two concerts in Egypt due to security concerns related to the Dresden trial.

The Saxony State Orchestra confirmed Sunday it would not be playing in Alexandria and Cairo on October 31 and November 2 as planned.

A spokesperson for the orchestra, known as the Saechsische Staatskapelle in Germany, and based in the city of Dresden, said it was asked by Egyptian authorities not to go ahead with the performances.

rb/dpa/epd/AP
Editor: Sonia Phalnikar