5 folks, together with a nine-year-old boy, have been killed when a person drove a automobile right into a crowded Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on December 20.
Greater than 200 folks have been injured within the assault on Friday night, together with about 40 individuals who sustained critical or vital accidents.
On Tuesday, Germany’s president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier used his conventional Christmas handle to the nation to name for nationwide unity.
He mentioned: “A darkish shadow hangs over this Christmas.”
“Hatred and violence should not have the ultimate phrase. Let’s not permit ourselves to be pushed aside. Let’s stand collectively.”
Authorities reported that the suspect used emergency exit routes to entry the Christmas market grounds, the place he ploughed by means of the gang throughout a three-minute rampage. The person surrendered himself to the police on the scene.
The Magdeburg police division mentioned in an announcement on Sunday that the suspect has been positioned in investigative detention on the suspicion of 5 counts of homicide and a number of counts of tried homicide and grievous bodily hurt.
Right here’s what we all know concerning the suspect:
Who’s the suspect?
The suspect has been recognized as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia who has lived in Germany for nearly twenty years.
He’s employed at a clinic specialising in treating offenders with habit points however has been on sick depart for the reason that finish of October.
He has described himself as a “Saudi atheist” and an activist vital of Islam who has helped former Muslims flee from Gulf nations.
Al-Abdulmohsen has been energetic on-line, criticising Germany for accepting too many Muslim refugees and supporting far-right conspiracy theories concerning the “Islamisation” of Europe.
Der Spiegel information journal reported that al-Abdulmohsen was a supporter of the anti-immigrant Various for Germany (AfD) social gathering.
Mina Ahadi, chairwoman of Germany’s Central Council of Ex-Muslims, advised the German each day newspaper Tageszeitung that the suspect was recognized to the council and he had tried to ship a donation about eight years in the past.
She recalled his behaviour as “aggressive” and mentioned she felt like she was “coping with a mentally in poor health individual”.
Ahadi wrote on X on Saturday that al-Abdulmohsen had “terrorised” the council for a number of years.
“His delusional concepts went to this point that he assumed that even organisations vital of Islamism have been a part of the Islamist conspiracy,” she mentioned.
What have the authorities mentioned?
German Inside Minister Nancy Faeser advised reporters on Saturday: “At this stage, the one factor we are able to say with certainty is that the perpetrator was clearly Islamophobic. We are able to already affirm that. Every little thing else is topic to additional investigations.”
On Sunday she mentioned the attacker did “not match any earlier sample” as a result of “he acted like an Islamist terrorist though ideologically he was clearly an enemy of Islam”.
Parliamentary committee hearings shall be held on December 30 into the assault by which Faeser and the heads of Germany’s home and overseas intelligence providers will reply questions, a senior lawmaker advised the AFP information company.
What was the suspect’s motive?
Magdeburg Prosecutor Horst Nopens mentioned on Saturday that one issue contributing to the suspect’s motives may very well be his frustration with Germany’s dealing with of Saudi refugees.
The suspect had issued on-line loss of life threats focusing on German residents and had a file of conflicts with state authorities.
In line with a Der Spiegel information journal report which quoted safety sources, the Saudi secret service alerted the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), Germany’s overseas intelligence company, a 12 months earlier a couple of tweet by which al-Abdulmohsen warned that Germany would face penalties for its therapy of Saudi refugees.
In August he 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.”
Quoting safety sources, Die Welt newspaper reported that the German state and federal police carried out a “danger evaluation” on al-Abdulmohsen final 12 months however concluded he posed “no particular hazard”.
What else is thought concerning the suspect’s motives?
Felix Neumann, coverage adviser on safety points at Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Basis, advised Al Jazeera it was initially assumed that the incident was “an Islamist assault because it was similar to the assault on Breitscheidplatz in 2016” when a truck intentionally drove right into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 folks.
“Trying on the feedback he made on-line, nevertheless, it’s now fairly unlikely that it was an Islamist assault,” Neumann mentioned.
“The perpetrator was very vital of Islam and shared right-wing extremist narratives on his X account. Additional investigations will present what motivated him ultimately, however the idea of ‘salad bar extremism’ may apply right here.
“Which means that people individually pick these facets which might be believable for them, however there is no such thing as a uniform, coherent ideology.”
May the federal government have accomplished extra to stop the assault?
Neumann mentioned: “Germany is a federal system, which has varied benefits, however sharing data shouldn’t be one in every of them.
“Overseas intelligence providers and people who offered details about the perpetrator’s potential hazard should now be investigated, and it have to be established the place there have been errors within the chain of knowledge sharing.
“This should then be optimised in order that potential risk analyses may be handed on higher between the authorities.”
