A Saudi Arabian asylum seeker activist has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering six people and injuring hundreds more at a Christmas market in Germany in 2024.
This week, the Magdeburg Regional Court handed down the maximum sentence to Taleb Al Abdulmohsen over an attack on the town’s Christmas market in which he used a rental car to plough into pedestrians, killing six, including a nine-year-old boy and five women. Over 300 more were left injured in the frenzied attack.
According to broadcaster NTV, over 200 victims attended the trial, forcing regional authorities in Saxony-Anhalt to build a temporary courthouse to accommodate all who wished to attend.
The Saudi Arabian native had arrived in Germany in 2006 and was granted asylum ten years later, despite warnings from Riyadh, Kuwait, and the United Kingdom over potential criminal acts.
Abdulmohsen was also subject to an astonishing 105 cases since 2013, according to a confidential report from the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) obtained by Der Spiegel. These reportedly included numerous “confused” threatening letters and claims of violence made by the would-be attacker, including against judges, prosecutors, and his own lawyer.
While he claimed to have rejected Islam and had expressed interest in the anti-mass migration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Elon Musk, and Alex Jones, Abdulmohsen previously stated that he was not a conservative and had described himself as a leftist.
Although he criticised mass migration into Germany from countries like Saudi Arabia, he also served at the same time as an activist helping ex-Muslims flee from the Middle East to Germany as asylum seekers.
For this work, he was promoted by legacy media outlets, including the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper and the BBC, which described him as a “go-to resource for people all over the Arab region” seeking refuge in Germany.
According to prosecutors, Abdulmohsen had planned the attack on the Christmas market long in advance. However, they claimed there was no driving ideological motive behind the attack other than to elevate himself. During the trial, a psychiatric expert claimed that he has a narcissistic personality disorder with a deep desire for attention.
However, the attacker told the court that he was motivated by disagreements with German authorities, whom he accused of ignoring the plight of women in Saudi Arabia.
The trial has brought renewed focus on Germany’s lax immigration system, with many questioning why Abdulmohsen had been granted asylum despite dozens of agencies being aware of his threats to commit violence and even terror attacks in the country.
Abdulmohsen will be able to appeal his life sentence.