Germany Christmas Market Attack: Who Is The Suspect — A Saudi Doctor And Psychiatry Expert Termed ‘Islamophobic’
Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, 50, is a Saudi refugee from a Shiite family who declared himself as "anti-Islam" and an "atheist".
A doctor from Saudi Arabia was arrested by the German police on Friday for allegedly ramming at a Christmas market in the Magdeburg city, which claimed five lives and left over 200 others injured.
Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, 50, is a Saudi refugee from a Shiite family who declared himself as "anti-Islam" and an "atheist". Germany's Interior Minister Nancy Faeser stated that she that the suspect was an “Islamophobe”, reported Reuters.
He had been living in Germany since 2006 and practised as a psychiatrist specialist in Bernburg, a town near Magdeburg. He lived and worked in the region of Saxony-Anhalt, whose capital Magdeburg is 130 kilometres (80 miles) west of Berlin. He had no known links to jihadists, news agency AFP reported.
Abdulmohsen was arrested in the car which was allegedly used for the attack, and is said to have intentionally ploughed into the crowd of Christmas revellers on Friday night. The motive behind the attack remains unclear.The incident took place eight years to the day after a similar attack occurred at a Christmas market in Berlin, when 13 people were killed.
The German authorities said the date was not a coincidence, however, they have not said it was an Islamist attack.
As per the report, Abdulmohsen portrayed himself as a victim of persecution on social media, who had renounced Islam and voiced his opinion against the "Islamisation of Germany".
The suspect came from a Shiite family from the village of Hofuf, located in the predominantly Shiite province of al-Ahsa in eastern Saudi Arabia. According to German media and a Saudi activist, he arrived in Germany in 2006 and was granted refugee status 10 years later.
Speaking with the German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau in an interview several years ago, Abdulmohsen had said he had been threatened with death for apostasy.
In an unpublished interview with AFP from 2022, he portrayed himself as "a Saudi atheist", and stated that the Saudi youth were not only fleeing the government but "are fleeing Islam".
"Strict Islamic upbringing is the cause of all the problems of Muslims, especially women," he said.
'Pscyhologically Disturbed Person With Exaggerated Sense Of Self-Importance'
A few media outlets have reported links between the suspect and the far-right in Germany. He was also well-known in the Saudi diaspora in Germany and helped asylum seekers, especially women.
Taha Al-Hajji, legal director of the Berlin-based European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights, told AFP that Taleb A. is a "psychologically disturbed person with an exaggerated sense of self-importance," adding that "this is definitely not an Islamist-motivated attack."
Despite his work with asylum seekers, Abdulmohsen was "a pariah" among the Saudi community in Germany, Hajji said.
In a post on social media last August, he said: "Is there a path to justice in Germany without blowing up a German embassy or randomly slaughtering German citizens? I have been seeking a peaceful path since January 2019 and have not found it. If anyone knows it, please let me know."
He condemned what he called "the crimes committed by Germany against Saudi refugees and the obstruction of justice, no matter how much evidence was presented to them".
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