What we all know in regards to the suspect within the assault on the Magdeburg Christmas market | EUROtoday

The profile of the person suspected of getting pushed his automotive into guests to the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, killing no less than 5 individuals and injuring greater than 200, is changing into clearer. Arrested after driving into crowd “at least 400 meters”based on native police, he was taken into custody.

This man is introduced within the media as Taleb A. He is a 50-year-old physician from Saudi Arabia, who arrived in Germany in 2006 and has had refugee standing since 2016. He labored as a psychiatrist within the Saxony area. Anhalt, of which Magdeburg, 160 kilometers west of Berlin, is the regional capital.

On Saturday, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser mentioned that “the only thing” that she was capable of verify is that the alleged perpetrator “is Islamophobic”in view of his recognized positions. On his social networks, his frequent positions paint the portrait of a person feeling persecuted, having damaged with Islam and quite the opposite denouncing “dangers” of an Islamization of Germany. The path of an Islamist assault thus appears to be receding, even when the explanations for the act stay mysterious.

“Not an attack motivated” by faith

In an interview with the German media Frankfurter Rundschau just a few years in the past, the suspect claimed to have been “threatened with death for apostasy from Islam”an argument usually cited by many asylum seekers in Europe. In 2022, in an interview with Agence France-Presse, he introduced himself as “an atheist Saudi”asserting that the “Young Saudis, especially women, are not only fleeing the Saudi regime, they are also fleeing Islam”. “Rigorous Islamic education is the cause of all the problems of Muslims, especially women”he mentioned.

“He is a psychologically disturbed and excessively pretentious person”Taha al-Hajji, of the Euro-Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR), based mostly in Berlin, informed Agence France-Presse. “This is certainly not a motivated attack” by faith, he added. According to Mr. Hajji, the suspect was “banished” from the Saudi diaspora the place he was recognized for his assist to asylum seekers.

The head of the Social Democratic Party, Dirk Wiese, harassed to the each day Rheinische Post that the profile of the suspect signifies him moderately as a sympathizer of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) occasion or of Elon Musk. “It seems that things are different here than initially assumed”specifically an Islamist assault, he mentioned. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who visited the scene of the assault, remained cautious: “It is important to clarify things. And that this is done with precision and accuracy (…). We must precisely understand the author, his actions and his motivations and then draw the consequences from a legal perspective.he declared.

The far right nevertheless took up the matter. The attack occurred in the run-up to the early German legislative elections on February 23, where the issue of immigration will play an important role, after several attacks committed in recent months by foreigners. “When will this madness end? »AfD co-president Alice Weidel, whose party is credited with second place in the polls, wrote on X, at almost 20%.

The French left denounces the RN’s lack of prudence

In France, the far right also quickly denounced an Islamist attack, attracting criticism from the left. The president of the National Rally (RN), Jordan Bardella, wrote on “the target of the attack owes nothing to chance: radical Islam is waging a war on our Christian traditions, on our identities, on our civilization”.

The chief of the RN deputies, Marine Le Pen, denounced “Islamist barbarism” Who “sows terror in the heart of Europe”. “This act of war against a symbol of our civilization raises hearts”she added.

“Turn your tongue in your mouth seven times before delivering your prejudices whose sole purpose is to cultivate anti-Muslim racism”reacted on X Olivier Faure, the primary secretary of the Socialist Party. The coordinator of France Insoumise Manuel Bompard, for his half, castigated “far-right leaders [qui] pounced like vultures on the attack on Magdeburg to pour out their anti-Muslim hatred”.