Berlin:
The Saudi man– recognized as 50-year-old psychiatrist Taleb al-Abdulmohsen– has been remanded in custody for driving a automobile right into a German Christmas market in an assault, that killed at the very least 5 individuals and injured over 200 others, on costs of homicide and tried homicide, police stated on Sunday. The suspect, an anti-Islam activist, is a residence standing in Germany, the place he has been residing for nearly 20 years.
A number of media reviews highlighted that the suspect attacker had made on-line demise threats in opposition to German residents up to now and had a historical past of quarrelling with state authorities. In keeping with a report by the journal Der Spiegel, the Saudi secret service had warned Germany’s spy company BND a 12 months in the past a few tweet by which Abdulmohsen threatened Germany would pay a “worth” for its remedy of Saudi refugees.
Later in August, Abdulmohsen wrote on social media: “Is there a path to justice in Germany with out blowing up a German embassy or randomly slaughtering German residents?… If anybody is aware of it, please let me know.”
Nevertheless, Die Welt each day reported, citing safety sources, that German state and federal police had carried out a “danger evaluation” on Abdulmohsen final 12 months however concluded that he posed “no particular hazard”.
Scholz Govt Faces Criticism
With German media digging into Abdulmohsen’s previous, questions are being raised if the Chancellor Olaf Scholz-led authorities might have accomplished extra to stop the Christmas market car-ramming assault. Mass-circulation German each day Bild requested: “Why did our police and intelligence companies do nothing, though they’d the Saudi on their radar?… And why had been the ideas from Saudi Arabia apparently ignored?”
It charged that “German authorities often solely discover out about assault plans in time when overseas companies warn them” and known as for sweeping reforms after the election for an entire “turnaround in inside safety”.
Criticism additionally got here from each the far-right and far-left events already bitterly against the Scholz authorities. Per a report by information company AFP, the far-right AfD’s parliamentary head Bernd Baumann demanded Scholz name a particular session of the Bundestag on the “desolate” safety state of affairs, arguing that “that is the least that we owe the victims”.
The top of the far-left BSW get together, Sahra Wagenknecht, demanded that Inside Minister Nancy Faeser clarify “why so many suggestions and warnings had been ignored beforehand”.
In the meantime, Chancellor Scholz has condemned the “horrible, insane” assault on Friday within the metropolis of Magdeburg and made a name for nationwide unity amid excessive political tensions as Germany heads in direction of elections on February 23.
German Christmas Market Assault
A driver rammed a automobile into a big crowd of revellers at a Christmas market in central Germany on Friday night, killing 5 individuals and injuring some 205, of which 40 stay crucial. The suspect, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen was arrested on the scene subsequent to the closely broken automobile. A Justice of the Peace ordered him into pretrial custody after prosecutors pressed costs of homicide on 5 counts, a number of counts of tried homicide and grievous bodily hurt, in accordance with a police assertion.
Authorities stated on Saturday the motive was not clear. Nevertheless, the Magdeburg prosecutor, Horst Nopens, stated one potential issue may very well be what he known as the suspect’s frustration with Germany’s dealing with of Saudi refugees, in accordance with a Reuters report.
About The Suspect
In an unpublished interview with AFP from 2022, Abdulmohsen reportedly referred to himself as “a Saudi atheist”. As an activist, he reportedly helped girls flee Gulf international locations and have up to now complained that German authorities weren’t doing sufficient to assist them.
On the identical time, he has criticised the entry of different Muslim migrants and conflict refugees to Germany and backed conspiracy theories concerning the deliberate “Islamisation” of Europe. A harsh critic of Germany’s previous welcome to many Muslim migrants, he wrote on X that he wished ex-chancellor Angela Merkel may very well be jailed for all times or executed.
In earlier brushes with the legislation, he was first fined by a court docket within the metropolis of Rostock in 2013 for “disturbing the general public peace by threatening to commit crimes”, in accordance with Der Spiegel. This 12 months he was investigated in Berlin for the “misuse of emergency calls” after arguing with police at a station in Berlin.
He had been on sick go away since late October from his office, a clinic close to Magdeburg that treats offenders with substance dependancy issues. The chairwoman of the group Central Council of Ex-Muslims, Mina Ahadi, stated that the Saudi suspect “isn’t any stranger to us as a result of he has been terrorising us for years”.
She labelled him “a psychopath who adheres to ultra-right conspiracy ideologies” and stated he “would not simply hate Muslims, however everybody who would not share his hatred,” in accordance with the AFP report.
