What was known about the perpetrator of the Magdeburg Christmas market attack, which authorities were warned about the potential violence of this individual and at what point, and what follow-up was done on that information? These are the questions that German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser intends to investigate following the failures in the alarm system that have come to light. Although nothing will change for the four women and the nine-year-old child killed in the multiple hit-and-run by a Saudi apostate of Islam whose mental faculties are now being questioned. Nothing will change for the 41 critically injured people still in the hospital out of the 205 injured by this individual in a 400-meter race against the crowd that began at 7:02 p.m. on Friday and ended with his arrest at 7:07 p.m. Three minutes of panic that will leave lifelong scars.
The name of Taleb Jawad Abdulmohsen, a Saudi psychiatrist aged 50 residing in Germany since 2006 but with refugee status since 2016, came to the attention of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) in November of last year. It is now known that warnings about the "dangerousness" of the individual by Saudi services were dismissed because they were vague. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) received a tip-off about the Saudi in the summer through social media channels, but as it is not an investigative authority, the person who provided the information was referred to the responsible authorities. What happened next is unknown.
"We will clarify all of that. It will be examined what information has been provided in the past and how it has been followed up," Faeser declared. If the investigation goes beyond 2016, when Al Abdulmohsen applied for and obtained refugee status, a process that in his case was remarkably fast - lasting only four months - Interior authorities will find more than just indications.
In 2013, Al Abdulmohsen had already threatened to commit a terrorist act, according to the Ministry of the Interior of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. He threatened the medical association with actions that would attract international attention if they did not recognize the accreditation and medical training he had obtained in his country, and referred to the Boston Marathon bombing. Following the threat, investigators searched his home and checked his electronic devices. They found no evidence of specific preparations for an attack. However, he was fined 900 euros for "disturbing public peace through criminal threats." That conviction, however, was not seen as an impediment for him to be granted asylum in Germany in 2016. In his asylum application, he claimed that if he returned to Saudi Arabia, he would be executed for leaving Islam, and he substantiated his claim with an alleged incident he had with the cultural attaché of his country's embassy.
Also in 2013, Al Abdulmohsen clashed with the Central Council of Ex-Muslims and the associated Secular Refugee Organization. Since then, he has been "terrorizing the organization," as explained by president Mina Ahadi. Last year, the affected parties decided to take legal action for defamation, and during the trial, the plaintiffs discovered a erratic and disturbing man. "When the first-instance judgment was handed down - a fine of 250,000 euros or six months in prison - the Saudi exploded and had to be escorted out of the building by security. None of the plaintiffs were present, but the court informed the lawyers of the incident so they could take precautions at their homes," recalls Michael Schmidt-Salomon, spokesperson for the Giordano Bruno Foundation. The Saudi appealed the sentence, but at the end of October 2024, the court ruled against him. "This led him to deliver an angry speech in court. He furiously stated that the German authorities would regret it and pointed his finger at the judge, shouting that he was defending in the country. Security personnel intervened and calmed him down, but the people I spoke to were clear that his mental state had deteriorated," he states.
Taleb Al Abdulmohsen had been working as a doctor at the Bernburg psychiatric hospital since March 2020, a center managed by the state of Saxony-Anhalt for the rehabilitation of addicted offenders. However, Schmidt-Salomon questions whether he was mentally fit to do that job. At the end of October, after his defeat in court, the Saudi requested sick leave and had not returned to work. But he traveled several times to Magdeburg, presumably to prepare for his attack.
Al Abdulmohsen hates Islam and sympathizes with the far-right, but he carried out his action on a Friday, spreading terror around a Christian holiday and against those he supposedly wanted to protect from the Islamization of Europe. It is a diffuse and unusual profile that neo-Nazi and anti-immigrant groups simplify in two words: refugee and Arab. The state network LAMSA has already reported cases of harassment and persecution of immigrants in Magdeburg, where a thousand neo-Nazis gathered and roamed the streets on Saturday night, while the first religious services were being held.
Apostate of Islam with several incidents
The suspect was brought before a judge on Saturday night, who, behind closed doors, ordered him to remain in custody pending possible formal charges.
The detainee does not fit the typical profile of extremist attackers. The man described himself as a very critical ex-Muslim of Islam and in many social media posts expressed his support for the anti-immigrant party Alternative for Germany (AfD). "This perpetrator acted in an incredibly cruel and brutal manner, like an Islamist terrorist, although he was obviously ideologically an Islamophobe," said the Interior Minister on Sunday.
Taleb A gained some notoriety as a critic of Islam - in the archives of the newspapers Frankfurter Rundschau and Frankfurter Allgemeine, there are two interviews with him that have been republished while hiding his last name - and as an activist dedicated to helping primarily Saudi women escape their country and come to Germany to seek asylum.
His rejection of Islam at some point began to take on extremist tones that led him to openly sympathize with the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) and join those who accused former Chancellor Angela Merkel of having a plan to Islamize Europe.
"Since there is no death penalty in Germany, Angela Merkel must spend the rest of her life in prison for her criminal secret project of Islamizing Europe. But if the death penalty is reinstated, she deserves to be killed," he said on X on December 5 in a message quoted by Der Spiegel that was later deleted.
The Prosecutor's Office has so far not wanted to say much about Taleb A's motives, and the only thing confirmed is that among them seems to have been discontent with the treatment of Saudi refugees.
Another incident with the justice system occurred in February 2024 when he went to a police station in Berlin to file a complaint and was dissatisfied with the behavior of the officers, so he made an emergency call to the firefighters, asking for legal advice. Taleb A was fined again for abusing the emergency call.
At that time, Taleb A seemed to have fallen into a persecutory delusion fueled by various sources, many of them far-right. His social media accounts show traces that he had various role models such as Elon Musk, American agitator Alex Jones, or British extremist Tommy Robinson.
The only entrance without bollards
On the other hand, police reported Sunday that those killed in the attack are a 9-year-old boy and four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75. Among the 200 wounded there are 41 seriously injured and it is not ruled out that the death toll will have to be corrected upwards. The way in which the events took place has been reconstructed by the police and the Magdeburg public prosecutor's office, reports Efe.
Taleb A, driving a black BMW, entered the Christmas market at around 7 p.m., taking advantage of the only point where there were no bollards to prevent cars from passing and the route that was intended as a path for ambulances and rescue cars in case something happened at the site.
Police immediately began the chase and soon after managed to apprehend Taleb A. An officer involved in the capture told German media that the alleged perpetrator had practically turned himself in after razing part of the Christmas market and leaving the car in an unusable state.