Christmas Market Killer Was Known to German Police, Saudi Officials ━ The European Conservative

The man arrested for ramming a car into a crowd of shoppers on the Friday evening at the Magdeburg Christmas market in Germany, Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, came to the attention of German authorities as early as 2013. In September of that year, the Rostock District Court sentenced the Saudi doctor to a fine for “disturbing the public peace by threatening to commit criminal offenses,” reports Bild.

Other details about the man accused of killing five people, including a nine-year-old child, and leaving more than 200 injured, have also emerged, including that Saudi Arabia recently warned German authorities three times about the potential danger posed by the Saudi national, the German newspaper Der Spiegel reports.

The president of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Münch, said that in November 2023 there was a tip-off from Saudi Arabia about al-Abdulmohsen. Münch told public broadcaster ZDF that his office had received a notice from the Islamic Kingdom in November 2023.

BBC reports that “a source close to the Saudi government told the BBC it sent four official notifications known as ‘Notes Verbal’ to German authorities, warning them about what they said were “the very extreme views” held by al-Abdulmohsen.”

However, BBC reports, a counter-terrorism expert told the broadcaster that “the Saudis may have been mounting a disinformation campaign to discredit someone who tried to help young Saudi women seek asylum in Germany.”

The police in Saxony-Anhalt then carried out “appropriate investigative measures,” but the reported statements were “unspecific.” The accused also had various contacts with authorities due to insults, and occasional threats, “but he was not known for acts of violence,” the BKA chief said.

The Magdeburg police announced during a press conference on Saturday that an attempt had been made to identify potential threats a year ago. They did not provide any further details. Al-Abdulmohsen had repeatedly made threats against Germany on social media and threatened to use violence. Among other things, he accused the country of pursuing the “Islamization of Europe.”

In the days since the horrific attack, other sometimes-conflicting information about the accused has emerged which point to failures by the German government in assessing the threat posed by al-Abdulmohsen.

Independent Arabia reports that a Saudi woman contacted the German authorities last year, warning of al-Abdulmohsen’s plans to target civilians. However, it reports, these warnings did not receive the necessary attention, which sparked widespread criticism of the German government, which described its failure to deal with the warnings as a “missed opportunity” to avoid the tragedy.

Saudi author and commentator Salman Al-Ansari has claimed on X that al-Abdulmohsen fled Saudi Arabia because he was accused of crimes such as rape. In Germany, the claim is, he pretended to be a dissident and committed crimes such as human trafficking alongside his work as a doctor. This claim has not been independently verified.