Germany was still in shock on Saturday, struggling to understand the suspect behind the attack in the city of Magdeburg.
Local media identified him as 50-year-old Taleb A., a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy. Authorities said he had lived in Germany for two decades. He was arrested at the scene after he drove a black BMW into a Christmas market filled with Christmas shoppers on Friday evening, killing at least five people and injuring about 200 others.
The prominent German terrorism expert Peter Neumann posted on
Talebs He also described himself as a former Muslim.
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He criticized German authorities, saying they had not done enough to combat the “Islamism of Europe.”
He has also expressed support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Some described Taleb as an activist who helped Saudi women escape their homeland. Most recently, he seemed to focus on his theory that German authorities were targeting Saudi asylum seekers.
Neumann, the terrorism expert, wrote: “After 25 years in this ‘business’ you think nothing could surprise you anymore. But a 50-year-old Saudi ex-Muslim who lives in East Germany, loves the AfD and wants to punish Germany for its tolerance of Islamists – that really wasn’t on my radar.”
On Saturday, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told reporters: “At this point we can only say with certainty that the perpetrator was obviously Islamophobic – we can confirm that. “Everything else is subject to further investigation and we will have to wait and see.”
A Germany-based organization called Athiest Refugee Relief said the alleged attacker was not part of the group and claimed he had made “numerous accusations and claims” against it and former board members that it said were false.
“We strongly distance ourselves from him,” the group said in a statement on its website, adding that members of Atheist Refugee Relief filed a criminal complaint against him in 2019 for “the worst slander and verbal attacks.”
&Copy 2024 The Canadian Press
