Anti-Islam Saudi immigrant arrested following Magdeburg assault

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The person who allegedly crashed right into a crowd of individuals at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, japanese Germany, on Friday night, killing 4 folks, is a 50-year-old Saudi physician who arrived in Germany in 2006, authorities say . .

Reiner Haseloff, prime minister of the japanese state of Saxony-Anhalt, mentioned the alleged perpetrator, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, was not identified to police as an Islamist.

Al-Abdulmohsen’s profile on the social networking website X signifies that he’s a staunch critic of Islam.

German media reported that he was an activist who helped opponents of the Saudi regime flee the nation and search asylum in Europe.

Abdulmohsen allegedly drove his black BMW

A video posted on social media confirmed law enforcement officials surrounding him at a tram cease. He was seen mendacity on the bottom subsequent to his automobile, a rental automobile registered in Munich, after which taken for questioning.

Authorities in Saxony-Anhalt mentioned 4 folks died within the assault and greater than 200 folks have been injured, 41 of them critically. Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the scene of the assault on Saturday.

“This can be a disaster for the town of Magdeburg, for the area and for Germany on the whole,” Haseloff mentioned.

For the reason that incident, a number of interviews with the alleged perpetrator have resurfaced, together with one within the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from 2019 by which he described himself as “essentially the most aggressive critic of Islam in historical past.”

He additionally expressed admiration for Various for Germany (AfD), a far-right anti-immigration social gathering that is available in second behind the center-right CDU/CSU bloc forward of Germany’s nationwide elections in February, and accused Germany of not doing sufficient. to combat towards Islamism.

“After 25 years on this career, you assume that nothing can shock you anymore,” wrote on X Peter Neumann, terrorism knowledgeable at King’s School London. “However a 50-year-old ex-Saudi Muslim who lives in East Germany loves the AfD and needs to punish Germany for its tolerance of Islamists. It actually wasn’t on my precedence listing. »

The incident comes nearly eight years to the day since 12 folks have been killed and 49 others injured in 2016 on Breitscheidplatz in Berlin when an Islamic State terrorist rammed a truck right into a Christmas market.

A lot stays unclear about al-Abdulmohsen and his potential motivations.

Based on German media, the alleged attacker was born within the Saudi metropolis of Hofuf and arrived in Germany in March 2006 to review. In July 2016, he was granted refugee standing after claiming to have acquired dying threats for turning away from Islam.

Authorities mentioned he labored as a psychiatrist and psychotherapist in Bernburg, a city of 32,000 between Halle and Magdeburg.

Spiegel On-line reported that he was an activist who helped folks – notably girls – flee Saudi Arabia and that he ran an internet site offering details about the German asylum system. In 2019, he gave interviews about his actions to 2 German newspapers by which he expressed his hatred of Islam.

In a single, he mentioned he “broke” with faith in 1997.

“I discovered life in Saudi Arabia a problem, you need to faux to be Muslim and comply with all of the rituals,” he mentioned. “I knew I might not dwell in worry and once I realized that even nameless activism would put my life in peril as an ex-Saudi Muslim, I utilized for asylum. »

Within the different, he claims he wrote articles essential of Islam on an Web discussion board run by imprisoned activist Raif Badawi and later acquired dying threats.

“They wished to ‘bloodbath’ me if I ever returned to Saudi Arabia,” he mentioned. “It wouldn’t make sense to place myself susceptible to having to return again after which being killed.”

In current months, he appears to have moved away from activism and adopted a really essential perspective in the direction of the German authorities who feed on conspiracy theories extra usually related to the nationalist proper.

In an article on X in November outlining the “calls for of the Saudi liberal opposition,” he known as on Germany to “defend its borders towards unlawful immigration.”

“It grew to become clear that Germany’s coverage of open borders was [former chancellor Angela] Merkel’s mission to Islamize Europe,” he wrote. He additionally known as on Germany to repeal articles of its penal code which he mentioned “restrict[…]the inhabitants”. . . freedom of expression” by “making it an offense [sic] insult or denigrate non secular doctrines or practices.”

Her X profile contains a machine gun and claims that “Germany is pursuing Saudi girls asylum seekers, inside and outdoors Germany, to destroy their lives.”

Earlier this month, he was interviewed by an anti-Islam weblog and accused German authorities of finishing up a covert operation to seek out ex-Saudi Muslims whereas granting asylum to Syrian jihadists.