According to local media reports, on December 20, 2024, a car crashed into a group of people in Magdeburg, Germany, and emergency personnel worked at a Christmas market.
Axel Schmidt | Reuters
German car crash suspect Five people were killed and more than 200 injured on Friday. Identified as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, he describes himself as a member of Saudi Arabia’s “liberal opposition” and has expressed strong anti-Islam and anti-immigration views.
Two senior U.S. officials familiar with the matter identified Abdulmosen as the suspect.
The car Abdelmosen was driving allegedly plowed 1,200 feet into a crowd of people in a narrow alley in Magdeburg. Shoppers gather there. The victims included four adults and a 9-year-old child.
Al-Abdulmohsen is a Saudi doctor living in Germany, where he sought asylum in 2016 citing threats from Saudi Arabia and later worked as a “psychiatrist” at a clinic. expert”. But his online activities include historical and recent inflammatory content on X, and he was accused of erratic behavior by a refugee NGO. He has aligned himself with far-right movements such as Germany’s anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, while praising figures such as Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders.
Police have not released a motive for the Christmas market attack, but two senior U.S. officials told NBC News authorities are investigating whether the incident was related to terrorism. So far, German prosecutors have said they plan to bring charges of homicide, attempted homicide and aggravated assault, senior U.S. officials said.
Al-Abdulmohsen’s bio on his X account (verified by NBC News) states: “Germany wants to Islamize Europe.”
In December, he retweeted an X event titled “Islam – a worldwide problem.” In November, he retweeted a post claiming that “Islam is not a religion.” That same month, he also retweeted Alice Weidel, co-chair of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, who accused former chancellor Angela Merkel of causing “serious damage” to Germany. and accused her of “uncontrolled mass immigration.”
In November, Abdelmosen called Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch anti-immigration Freedom Party, the “real hero” on X. Wilders has been criticized for being “Islamophobic” for comparing the Koran to Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and calling Moroccans “Islamophobic.”
German police declined to comment on Abdelmosen’s X account as the investigation is still ongoing.
In 2019, Abdelmosen told the FAZ newspaper that he left Islam in his early 20s by pretending that he was still a Muslim. He explained that when he signed up on Twitter, his intention was “just to criticize Islam.”
The Salus Clinic at Bernburg Psychiatric Hospital confirmed in an email to NBC News that the suspect, who worked as a psychiatrist at the clinic, had not been at work since the end of October due to “vacation and illness.”
“In 2019, members of Secular Refugee Aid lodged a complaint with the police following the most vicious slander and verbal attacks by (Abdul Mohsen),” the NGO Secular Refugee Aid said on Saturday, adding that “it could not be found” “Any reason to explain” his smear campaign and the offensive nature of his accusations. “
Al-Abdulmohsen also posted a video in which he Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence avatar was used to criticize the German government for suppressing free speech and allowing the abuse of Saudi Arabian refugees.
He previously retweeted the tech billionaire’s expression of support for the AfD last week, writing on an X: “Only the AfD can save Germany.”
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