EGYPTIAN prosecutors are not autho- rised to probe the killing of Marwa el- Sherbini, the wife of an Egyptian researcher, who was stabbed to death on Wednesday inside a Dresden courtroom in Germany, a legal source said yesterday."Since Marwa's murder took place inside German borders

, the German prose- cutors should investigate whether those involved were Germans or foreigners," the source added.He said that in this case the Egyptian Prosecution General had no role, other than if the German authorities asked to question Egyptians living here on the inci- dent. El-Sherbini was stabbed to death on Wednesday by a German man of a Russian extraction in court, where her husband was accidentally shot by German police. Meanwhile, an official at the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education said the body of the Egyptian woman had been handed over to her brother Tareq el-Sherbini yesterday, adding that it was expected in Cairo tonight."Her brother identified the body when it was brought to him and it is expected to arrive in Cairo (tonight) at 8:00pm," said Mohamed Gaber, the Assistant Minister for Higher Education."The Egyptian Foreign Ministry is the authority following the investigations and will have the essential role in the coming period," he added.Meanwhile, prosecutors say a 28- year-old German who fatally stabbed el-Sherbini was driven by a deep hate of foreigners.Dresden prosecutor Christian Avenarius said that authorities believed the man, who was not identified, was acting on his own and did not belong to any far-right groups, but that he harboured a deep hatred of Muslims. The woman was to testify against him in court."It was very clearly a xenophobic attack of a fanatical lone wolf," Avenarius said.The man remains in detention and pros- ecutors have opened an investigation on suspicion of murder for stabbing the woman 18 times during the trial.Avenarius said the defendant, a Russian of German decent who immigrated to Germany in 2003, had expressed contempt for Muslims at the start of the trial.The stabbing has triggered calls by some politicians and rights groups for stricter security in German courts.Egypt'sAmbassador to Germany Ramzi Ezz Eddine said a team of Egyptian diplomats, physicians and lawyers was being formed to follow the case."The Egyptian Embassy's team is following the litigation procedures," Ezz Eddine said.According to these procedures, the vic- tim's three-year-old son, who has been in the care of his aunt Abeer Ali since yester- day, will receive compensation, as customary under German law."The German authorities had refused to hand over the child to the Embassy and instead left him in a care centre until his aunt take him today," said the Egyptian envoy. The details of this crime started last August, when el-Sherbini was at a children's playground and asked the defendant, identified only as Alex W., to leave the swing to her son.Alex insulted her, accusing her of being 'a terrorist' because she was wearing the headscarf. The woman sued him at the court of the city, where she was living and accused him of slandering, and offending her, and accusing her of being a terrorist.The court fined the young man 750 euros, but he filed an appeal against the sentence. While the woman and her hus- band were following the litigation proce- dures in court, the man was lying in wait.