The Saudi man, identified as 50-year-old psychiatrist Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, has been remanded in custody on charges of driving into a German Christmas market in a car attack that killed at least five people and injured more than 200 others. were injured. Charges of murder and attempted murder, police said on Sunday. The suspect, an anti-Islam activist, is resident in Germany, where he has lived for nearly two decades.
Several media reports highlighted that the suspected attacker had made death threats to German citizens online in the past and had a history of feuds with state authorities. According to a report in the magazine Der Spiegel, the Saudi secret service warned Germany’s spy agency BND a year ago about a tweet in which Abdulmohsen threatened that Germany would have to pay a “price” for its treatment of Saudi refugees. .
Later in August, Abdulmohsen wrote on social media: “Is there a way to justice in Germany without blowing up the German embassy or randomly killing German civilians? … If anyone knows it, please let me know. “
However, Die Welt daily, citing security sources, reported that German state and federal police conducted a “risk assessment” on Abdulmohsen last year, but concluded that he posed “no particular threat”.
Scholz government is facing criticism
The scrutiny of Abdulmohsen’s past by German media is raising questions about whether the government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz could have done more to prevent the car-ramming attack at the Christmas market. The mass-circulation German daily Bild asked: “Why did our police and intelligence services do nothing, even though they had Saudi on their radar? … And why were Saudi Arabia’s suggestions apparently ignored?”
It alleged that “German authorities usually become aware of attack plans only when foreign services warn them” and called for sweeping reforms to “change internal security” after the election.
There was also criticism from both the far-right and far-left parties, already staunch opponents of the Scholz government. According to a report by news agency AFP, Bernd Baumann, parliamentary head of the far-right AfD, demanded Scholz call a special session of the Bundestag over the “desolate” security situation, arguing that “it is the least we can do to protect the victims.” Grateful for”.
Sahra Wagenknecht, head of the far-left BSW party, demanded that Interior Minister Nancy Feser explain “why so many suggestions and warnings have already been ignored”.
Meanwhile, Chancellor Scholz condemned the “horrific, insane” attack on Friday in the city of Magdeburg and called for national unity amid high political tensions in Germany ahead of elections on February 23.
German Christmas market attacked
A driver plowed a car into a large crowd of revelers at a Christmas market in central Germany on Friday evening, killing five and injuring 205, including 40 in critical condition. Is. The suspect, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, was arrested at the scene next to the heavily damaged car. A magistrate ordered him held in pre-trial detention after prosecutors charged him with five counts of murder, several counts of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm, according to a police statement.
Officials said Saturday that the motive was unclear. However, Magdeburg prosecutor Horst Nopens said a possible factor could be the suspect’s frustration with Germany’s handling of Saudi refugees, Reuters reports.
about the suspect
In an unpublished interview with AFP from 2022, Abdulmohsen reportedly described himself as a “Saudi atheist”. As an activist, she reportedly helped women flee the Gulf countries and had complained in the past that German authorities were not doing enough to help them.
At the same time, he has criticized the entry of other Muslim immigrants and war refugees into Germany and has supported conspiracy theories about the planned “Islamization” of Europe. A harsh critic of Germany’s past welcome to many Muslim immigrants, he wrote on Twitter that he wanted former Chancellor Angela Merkel to be jailed for life or hanged.
In previous brushes with the law, he was first fined by a court in the city of Rostock in 2013 for “disturbing public peace by threatening to commit a crime”, according to Der Spiegel. This year he was investigated in Berlin for “abuse of emergency calls” after an argument with police at a Berlin station.
He had been on sick leave since the end of October from a clinic near his workplace, Magdeburg, which treats criminals with drug addiction problems. Mina Ahadi, president of the group Central Council of Ex-Muslims, said the Saudi suspect “is no stranger to us as he has been terrorizing us for years”.
According to the AFP report, he labeled him “a psychopath who adheres to far-right conspiracy ideologies” and said he “doesn’t just hate Muslims, but everyone who shares his hatred.” Doesn’t.”
