The detainee arrived in Germany as a student in 2006 and was granted asylum in July 2016 after receiving death threats for turning away from Islam. He lived and worked as a psychiatrist in Bernburg, a city 50 kilometers from the site of the attack. Five people are dead and more than 200 are injured.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser confirmed on Saturday that the author of the run over is “clearly Islamophobic” in his initial statements about the individual, who was arrested shortly after the event.
Unofficial information from German security sources identifies the driver as Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen, Saudi citizen, 50 years old, specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy 50 years old with a permanent residence permite because he was recognized as a refugee in Germany in 2016.
According to the Data Protection Agency, about a year ago a kind of warning about the man to the German authorities for his radical tendency, presenting himself as an activist critical of Islam and defining himself as ‘ex-Muslim’.
The psychiatrist’s life, as shown in media such as the magazine “Der Spiegel” or the newspaper “Frankfurter Rundchau”, goes through the abandonment of the Muslim faith, activism in favor of Saudi women and leads to open sympathies for the extreme right. Alternative for Germany (AfD) and in theories about an alleged plan to Islamize the European Championship, devised, according to him, by former Chancellor Angela Merkel.
He arrived in Germany in 2006
The detainee arrived in Germany as a student in 2006 He was granted asylum in July 2016 after receiving death threats for turning away from Islam.. He lived and worked as a psychiatrist in Bernburg, a city of 32,000 inhabitants on the banks of the Saale River, between Magdeburg and Halle.
As an activist informed and advised Saudi women about the options for fleeing their country and had a website with information about the German asylum system.
In an interview he gave to the newspaper “Frankfurter Rundschau” in 2009, he said that many Saudi women came to him for protection after being raped by the man they depended on. In that interview, she said that the German asylum system was a path to freedom for these women.
In another interview with the newspaper ‘Frankfurter Allgemeine’, published in 2009, he described himself as ‘the greatest critic of Islam in all of history’.
From a certain point on, the distance he had taken from Islam became greater open rejection of German immigration policy. Last November, he published a message on his X account with “four demands from the Saudi opposition” and said Germany must protect its borders against illegal migration.
He then accused Merkel of having a plan to Islamize Europe with her open borders policy. In other social media posts, he showed open sympathy for the AfD, saying it was the only party fighting Islam in Germany. Taleb A wanted to establish an academy for ex-Muslims in Germany together with the AfD, according to ‘Der Spiegel’.
Already in the biography that he published in his X-profile, he ended with the remark that “Germany wants to Islamize Europe.”
Just a week ago, an interview of his was broadcast via an Islamophobic blog in the US, in which he claimed that the German state was running a secret operation to persecute ex-Saudi Muslims around the world while granting asylum to Syrians. In another message from X, later deleted, he announced revenge, according to the newspaper ‘Die Welt’.
According to the local newspaper “Magdeburger Zeitung”, Taleb A had missed work in recent weeks due to sick leave.
Five dead and more than 200 injured
German authorities visited the area of the tragedy this morning, where dozens of citizens left flowers, candles and messages of condolence for the victims.
The death toll is in accident at a Christmas market in Magdeburg (Germany) has risen to five in recent hours, while the number of injured is more than 200, including dozens of seriously injured.
At least one minor is among the fatalities. The Prime Minister of Saxony Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, briefed the media at the scene of the tragedy.
Yesterday, shortly after 7 p.m., the detainee allegedly rammed himself into the crowd while driving a rental car with a Munich license plate for a route of at least 400 meters through the Christmas market.
The event comes almost exactly eight years after an attack on a Christmas market in central Berlin on December 19, 2016, in which thirteen people were killed after being run over by a truck. The perpetrator of the attack fled to Italy, where he was killed by police.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has described the attack as an “insane act.” Scholz has specified that Germany must be united in light of what has happened and not allow hatred to prevail in the country’s daily life.
“There is no place that represents peace as much as a Christmas market. What a barbaric and insane act it is to break in there and kill and hurt people,” Scholz said in a brief appearance on the scene next to the Prime Minister of the European Union. state of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Hasseloff. “In those moments when we need to be together, we cannot allow hatred to prevail in our daily lives,” he added.
Source: EITB
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
