Get the Editor’s Weekly Highlights Without a Fee
Roula Khalaf, the Editor at FT, shares her top picks in this regular newsletter.
On a recent Friday evening, a tragic incident unfolded at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, located in eastern Germany. Authorities have identified the suspect as a 50-year-old doctor named Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, originally from Saudi Arabia, who moved to Germany in 2006.
According to Reiner Haseloff, the prime minister of Saxony-Anhalt, al-Abdulmohsen, the alleged attacker, was not previously identified by police as an Islamist figure. His online presence on social media platform X paints him as a vocal critic of Islam.
Reports from German media describe him as an activist who assisted individuals seeking refuge from Saudi Arabia’s regime to find asylum in Europe.
Witnesses say that on that fateful evening, a black BMW X5, driven by al-Abdulmohsen, plowed into the crowded market area shortly after 7 PM, causing chaos and tragedy. He was quickly apprehended by police. A social media video captured the police detaining him at a tram stop, laying on the ground near a rented vehicle with Munich plates before being taken in for questioning.
In the wake of the attack, authorities have confirmed that four individuals lost their lives, and more than 200 sustained injuries, with 41 of those being serious. Chancellor Olaf Scholz made a visit to the site of the tragedy the following day.
Reiner Haseloff called it a disaster, not only for Magdeburg and the region but for Germany as a whole. In the aftermath, past interviews given by al-Abdulmohsen have come to light, showcasing his strong anti-Islam stance. In a 2019 feature with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, he labeled himself as possibly the “most aggressive critic of Islam in history.”
Al-Abdulmohsen has previously shown appreciation for the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right political party critical of immigration and currently holding second place in polls behind the centre-right CDU/CSU ahead of the upcoming national elections in February. Moreover, he has criticized Germany for its alleged lenience towards Islamism.
Peter Neumann, a terrorism expert at King’s College in London, expressed his astonishment on X, remarking on the unexpected nature of a Saudi ex-Muslim in East Germany, supportive of the AfD, and opposed to Germany’s tolerance towards Islamists.
This incident happened nearly eight years after another devastating event, where a terrorist attack on Berlin’s Breitscheidplatz Christmas market by an ISIS supporter took 12 lives and injured 49 more.
The motives of al-Abdulmohsen remain largely unclear. Born in Hofuf, Saudi Arabia, he moved to Germany in March 2006 for his studies. By July of 2016, he was granted refugee status after claiming to receive life threats due to his apostasy.
Al-Abdulmohsen worked in Bernburg, a small town with a population of 32,000 situated between Halle and Magdeburg, serving as a psychiatrist and psychotherapist. According to Spiegel Online, he was an activist aiding individuals, particularly women, to escape Saudi Arabia. He also managed a website dedicated to informing people about the German asylum process. His contentious views on Islam were aired in 2019 in interviews with two German newspapers.
He stated his break from Islam occurred in 1997, describing life in Saudi Arabia as burdensome and oppressive. Desiring freedom from fear of religious persecution and the dangers linked to anonymous activism, he sought asylum in Germany.
He also recalled writing critical reviews of Islam on an internet platform run by jailed activist Raif Badawi, leading to threats. With vivid memory, he recounted that they threatened to “slaughter” him if he ever returned to Saudi Arabia, leaving him no safe recourse but to remain abroad.
Recently, al-Abdulmohsen seemed to shift away from his previous activism, adopting critical views of the German authorities—views often steeped in conspiracy theories commonly seen in nationalist rhetoric.
In a post on X in November, he outlined demands from the “Saudi liberal opposition,” urging Germany to “secure its borders against illegal immigration.” He criticized Germany’s open border policies as a supposed agenda by former Chancellor Angela Merkel to Islamize Europe and called for a repeal of parts of the penal code that he argues limit free speech by making it an offense to deride religious beliefs or practices.
His X profile ominously displayed a machine gun and contained claims that “Germany chases female Saudi asylum seekers, within and outside the country, to ruin their lives.”
Earlier this month, he partook in an interview with an anti-Islam blog, accusing German authorities of targeting Saudi ex-Muslims in clandestine operations while allegedly granting asylum to Syrian jihadists.
