What we know about the Saudi arrested for the attack on the Magdeburg Christmas market

A mass car accident took place at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, central Germany, on Friday.

A woman warned about the Magdeburg killer in 2023: he wanted to kill 20 Germans
The details of the Islamist murderer whose attack was whitewashed by junk journalism

According to the German newspaper Deutsche Welle, the attack left five people murdered and dozens injured. Likewise, in relation to these events, the police had arrested a Saudi citizen who allegedly drove a rental car in that accident. The nationality of the detainee has sparked speculation about the possibility of an Islamist attack, but there are data that do not fit with this theory.

At 23:40 CET, Magdeburg police reported: "The suspect is a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia. The man was immediately arrested on site and temporarily arrested. We are currently assuming a single perpetrator."

According to the British daily Daily Mail, the detainee's name is Taleb al-Abdulmohsen. The German daily Tagesspiegel cites his name as Taleb Jawad Al Abdulmohsen, and notes: "He first entered Germany in 2006 and was not detected by security authorities as an Islamist." He worked as a doctor and psychiatrist at a psychiatric clinic in Bernburg, 50 kilometers south of Magdeburg. Tagesspiegel notes that he has not been to work for several weeks.

Tagesspiegel says that he was "apparently anything but a religious fanatic. On the contrary, he was apparently a radical critic of Islam and sympathised with AfD and Elon Musk." AfD stands for the conservative party Alternative für Deutschland. Tagesspiegel adds:

On Friday evening, just hours before the crime, he posted several videos in which he said in English: “I hold the German nation responsible for the murder of Socrates.” In June, he accused the German police of being the “real driver” of Islamism in Germany.

The message Tagesspiegel refers to can be read here (here is an automated copy). It was posted on June 2, quoting a tweet by Alice Weidel (the chairwoman of the AfD). In his message, the alleged perpetrator of the attack stated:

"In my experience, the German police are the real drivers of Islamism in Germany.
My experience is 7 years of the police, most recently in March 2024, using smear tactics against me and other critics of Islam to destroy our anti-Islam activism.
The left is crazy. We need the AFD to protect the police from themselves."

Obviously, it is logical that many people have thought of a possible Islamist motive, since Europe has been suffering from Islamist attacks for years. In fact, in 2016 there was an Islamist terrorist attack against a Christmas market in Berlin, an attack that was claimed by ISIS.

These are the facts we know. If any new developments are discovered that call this version of events into question, I will indicate them here. I offer my full support to the families of those killed and those injured, and I hope that the full weight of justice falls on the perpetrator of this attack. Whatever the nationality, race, religious beliefs or ideology of a criminal, a crime always deserves to be condemned.

Finally, we must not make the mistake of prejudging that fanaticism is exclusive to a certain way of thinking (although certain religions and ideologies encourage it more than others). Unfortunately, there are fanatics even in the best of homes. What we can ask for is that those who call for "Islamophobia" every time there is an Islamist attack, something we have been seeing for decades in the West, do not today come to accuse apostates and critics of Islam, supporters of the AfD political party or followers of Elon Musk for what this Saudi citizen has allegedly done.

+ UPDATED 17:46h: A woman warned in 2023 about the Magdeburg killer: he wanted to kill 20 Germans. In addition, in 2013 he was convicted of threatening to commit crimes, a conviction that did not influence his asylum grant in 2016.

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Photo: Heiko Rebsch/dpa.