According to initial findings, the man is a 50-year-old specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy from Saudi Arabia. He was born in 1974.
He came to Germany in 2006 and lives in Bernburg, around 50 kilometers south of Magdeburg. According to information from WELT, a police operation took place at his home during the night.
According to information from security circles obtained by WELT, the alleged perpetrator is said to have worked as a doctor in the correctional facility in Bernburg. The correctional facility in Bernburg is a facility run by the state of Saxony-Anhalt for the rehabilitation and security of addicted criminals.
He has a permanent residence permit because he was recognized as a refugee in Germany in 2016.
"As things stand, it is a lone perpetrator, so there is no further danger for the city, as we currently believe, because we were able to arrest him and all investigations are now underway," said Haseloff.
In a 2019 interview with FAZ, the perpetrator described himself as the "most aggressive critic of Islam in history". He is an atheist and has applied for asylum in Germany because he fears persecution as an unbeliever and critic of Islam in his home country. The BBC and "Spiegel" reported similarly in 2019.
He had made it his mission to show other persecuted people in Saudi Arabia a way to asylum in Germany or Australia, for example
On X, the man appears as an ex-Muslim critic of Islam. On Friday evening, he posted several videos there in which he says in English: "I hold the German nation responsible for the killing of Socrates." And: "Another reason why I hold German citizens responsible for the persecution I experience in Germany is the story of a USB stick stolen from my mailbox." Later in the video, he says: "The government is criminal instead of protecting me. The police are the criminals. In this case, I hold the German nation and the German citizens responsible."
The man's profile text states in English: "Germany is hunting Saudi asylum seekers inside and outside Germany to destroy their lives." And: "Germany wants to Islamize Europe." His cover photo shows a gun.
In June of this year, the account posted in German: "In my experience, the German police are the real drivers of Islamism in Germany. My experience is 7 years in which the police, most recently in March 2024, used dirty tactics against me and other critics of Islam to destroy our anti-Islam activism. The left are crazy. We need AfD to protect the police from them."
An X user told WELT that she had reported posts by al-A. to the platform months ago; they were then deleted. In a chat with another user, a possible attack plan by the Arab was a topic. She did not go to the police, she told WELT, but it was "clear" that "he was becoming radicalized." Now she blames herself for not having acted.
She showed a tweet from December 2023 in which al-A. claimed that the German state was persecuting Saudi Arabian refugees to destroy their lives. He promised retaliation, writing: "I assure you that 100 percent revenge will come soon. Even if it costs me my life." And continued: "Germany will have to pay the price. A huge price." The post reads like a terror announcement, but was subsequently deleted. The X user WELT spoke to kept it.
In May 2024, he posted on X in English: "I seriously expect to die this year. Reason: I will ensure justice at any cost. And the German authorities are blocking all peaceful paths to justice." At the time, he wrote in Arabic about the "implementation" of an "operation."
In August 2024, he posted in Arabic: "I assure you: If Germany wants war, we will have it. If Germany wants to kill us, we will slaughter them, die or go to prison with pride. Because we have exhausted all peaceful means, we have only encountered more crimes by the police, state security, the public prosecutor's office, the judiciary and the interior ministry. Peace does them no good."
https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article254939378/Anschlag-auf-Weihnachtsmarkt-Arzt-Islamgegner-seit-2006-in-Deutschland-Das-wissen-wir-ueber-den-Attentaeter-von-Magdeburg.html
Eta - his X account:
https://x.com/drtalebjawad
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