Mental disorder suspected in German Christmas market attack – minister
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has said there are signs that the suspect in a deadly car-ramming at Magdeburg Christmas market is mentally ill. The December 20 incident left five people dead, including a child, and over 200 injured.
Faeser told reporters after a closed-door parliamentary committee meeting on Monday that no clear motive had been established for the attack. However, she noted, there were “striking signs of a pathological psyche.”
“The perpetrator does not fit into any previous categorization,” Faeser said, emphasizing the need to learn from the event, particularly in tracking potential suspects who are “psychologically disturbed” or driven by “confused conspiracy theories.” She added that the suspect’s social media presence was extensive, with “tens of thousands of tweets” that have yet to be fully examined.
Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old Saudi psychiatrist, was arrested at the scene after he rammed a car through a crowd. According to German media reports citing unnamed security sources, Abdulmohsen had a history of mental illness and had tested positive for drug use on the night of the attack. A journalist who interviewed Abdulmohsen several years ago described him as having a “twisted mind.”
“I got the feeling that he’s a twisted mind, if you will. I wouldn’t say he is crazy, but he’s inconsistent in his discussions and debates,” Mustafa Fetouri, a reporter and spokesperson for the Association for the Victims of NATO’s Intervention in Libya, told RT. According to Fetouri, it is unlikely that al-Abdulmohsen carried out the attack due to any religious beliefs because “he has no religion” and is “against all forms of religion, including Christianity and Judaism.”
Abdulmohsen has been living in Germany since 2006 and was granted refugee status in 2016. He has a history of legal issues, including a conviction for “disturbance of public peace by threatening crimes” in 2013, which resulted in a fine but did not affect his asylum request. Saudi Arabia had reportedly warned German authorities about Abdulmohsen and requested his extradition, but those warnings were not acted upon.
Lawmakers from various parties have criticized the government’s handling of the case following Monday’s hearing. Konstantin Kuhle of the Free Democrats (FDP) stated that while federal and state authorities were aware of the suspect, they failed to connect all the dots. Gottfried Curio of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) was more critical, claiming that “everything was foreseeable” and calling for deportations instead of naturalizations.
The attack has sparked intense debate about security and immigration policies in Germany, particularly ahead of the February election. Last week, Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed to “examine very carefully whether there were any failings on the part of the authorities” and whether any clues were missed.
