By Eric Vandenbroeck and co-workers
The Saudi government
has told Agence France-Presse that Saudi authorities previously requested the extradition
of the main suspect in Friday’s Christmas market attack
in Germany, as multiple agencies admitted they had received warnings
about him.
Echoing reports from
over the weekend, the source said Saudi Arabia warned Germany “many times”
about Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a Saudi citizen with a history of spreading
anti-Islamic propaganda on social media. The source did not explain in what way
he was considered potentially dangerous.
“There was [an
extradition] request,” the source told AFP, without giving the reason for the
request, adding that Riyadh had warned he “could be dangerous”.
Questions are
mounting in Germany about whether Friday’s attack in Magdeburg, which
killed five people, might have been preventable. Reports have emerged about
lapses in security, questionable immigration decisions, and attempts by police
to confront Abdulmohsen over threatening behavior that was allegedly not
followed through.
Abdulmohsen, 50, a
consultant psychiatrist, is being held in police custody on suspicion of
murder, attempted murder and grievous bodily harm.
Four women and a
nine-year-old boy were killed in the attack, when a black Mercedes SUV ploughed
for 400 metres into crowds of people at the Christmas market in the centre of
Magdeburg, in eastern Germany. More than 230 people are now known to have been injured
in the three-minute attack, 41 of whom remain in a critical condition. The
number of injured was revised upwards on Monday from a previous count of about
200.
Holger Münch, the
head of Germany’s federal criminal police office, BKA, told German television
that Germany received a warning from Saudi Arabia last year but an
investigation found it too vague to act upon.
Police attempted to
approach Abdulmohsen for a so-called “threat analysis” discussion but
apparently let the opportunity go after failing to find him at home.
Abdulmohsen’s
reputation for posting threatening messages online and in person is at the
centre of the murder investigation. On Sunday, Christian Pegel, a state
interior minister, said the suspect had referred to the 2013 Islamist terror
attack on the Boston Marathon during a professional dispute at around that
time.
In Magdeburg, where a
sea of flowers and candles have been left at the site of the attack, the city
of 240,000 residents is trying to come to terms with what happened. City
authorities criticised as “deeply disrespectful” the numerous attempts to
politicise the attack.
The far-right,
anti-immigrant Alternative für Deutschland, which is polling second in the
run-up to a snap election in February, invited its supporters to join a rally
in the nearby cathedral square on Monday evening, despite Abdulmohsen having
repeatedly expressed his support for the party and its affiliates on social
media.
The AfD’s leader in
Saxony-Anhalt state, Jan Wenzel Schmidt, called for Germany to close its
borders, and people in the crowd chanted: “Deport, deport, deport!”
A
counter-demonstration under the banner of Don’t Give Hate a Chance took place
at the same time.
On Saturday,
far-right protesters from across Germany, dressed in black and disguising their
faces, had gathered in Magdeburg shouting – in reference to immigrants – “throw
them out”.
Germany’s interior
minister, Nancy Faeser, has urged parties across the political divide to pull
together and quickly pass laws on police reform and biometric surveillance that
are at risk of being sidelined, delayed or scrapped altogether following the collapse
of the government last month.
In an interview with
Der Spiegel, Faeser said: “It’s clear we must do everything to protect the
people of Germany from such horrific acts of violence. To do this, our security
authorities need all the necessary powers as well as more personnel.”
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