5 folks, together with a nine-year-old boy, have been killed when a person drove a automotive 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 severe or important 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 enable 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 the group 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 in regards to 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 20 years.
He’s employed at a clinic specialising in treating offenders with dependancy points however has been on sick go away because the finish of October.
He has described himself as a “Saudi atheist” and an activist important 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 in regards to the “Islamisation” of Europe.
Der Spiegel information journal reported that al-Abdulmohsen was a supporter of the anti-immigrant Various for Germany (AfD) get together.
Mina Ahadi, chairwoman of Germany’s Central Council of Ex-Muslims, informed the German every 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 sick individual”.
Ahadi wrote on X on Saturday that al-Abdulmohsen had “terrorised” the council for a number of years.
“His delusional concepts went to date that he assumed that even organisations important of Islamism have been a part of the Islamist conspiracy,” she mentioned.
What have the authorities mentioned?
German Inside Minister Nancy Faeser informed 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 verify that. The whole lot 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 might be held on December 30 into the assault wherein Faeser and the heads of Germany’s home and international intelligence companies will reply questions, a senior lawmaker informed 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 could possibly be his frustration with Germany’s dealing with of Saudi refugees.
The suspect had issued on-line demise threats concentrating on German residents and had a document 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 international intelligence company, a yr earlier a few tweet wherein 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 yr however concluded he posed “no particular hazard”.
What else is understood in regards to the suspect’s motives?
Felix Neumann, coverage adviser on safety points at Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Basis, informed 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 moderately unlikely that it was an Islamist assault,” Neumann mentioned.
“The perpetrator was very important of Islam and shared right-wing extremist narratives on his X account. Additional investigations will present what motivated him in the long run, however the idea of ‘salad bar extremism’ may apply right here.
“Which means people individually pick these points which are believable for them, however there isn’t any uniform, coherent ideology.”
May the federal government have accomplished extra to stop the assault?
Neumann mentioned: “Germany is a federal system, which has numerous benefits, however sharing info is just not certainly one of them.
“International intelligence companies 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 will be handed on higher between the authorities.”