German authorities said they received information last year about the suspect in a Car attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg as more details emerged on Sunday about the five people killed.
The authorities have done it identified the suspect as a Saudi doctor who arrived in Germany in 2006 and had received permanent residency. Police have not publicly named the suspect, in line with privacy rules, but some German media have identified him as Taleb A. and reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy.
Authorities say he does not fit the usual profile of perpetrators of extremist attacks. He described himself as an ex-Muslim who was highly critical of Islam and in many social media posts expressed his support for the far-right anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
He is being held while authorities investigate him.
The German newspaper FAZ said it interviewed the suspect in 2019 and described him as an anti-Islam activist.
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“The man also published a large number of publications on the Internet. He also had contact with various authorities, made insults and even threats. However, he is not known to have committed acts of violence,” explained Münch , which has the German office. equivalent to the FBI.
He said the warnings, however, turned out to be very vague.
The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees also told X on Saturday that it received information about the suspect at the end of summer last year.
“This was taken seriously, as were all other tips,” the office said. But it also pointed out that it is not an investigating authority and that it referred the information to the responsible authorities. He gave no other details.
The Central Council of Ex-Muslims said in a statement that the suspect had “terrorised” them for years as he expressed shock at the attack.
“He apparently shared beliefs from the far-right spectrum of the AfD and believed in a large-scale conspiracy aimed at Islamizing Germany. His delusional ideas went so far that he assumed that even organizations critical of the Islamism were part of the Islamist conspiracy.” said the statement.
The group’s president, Mina Ahadi, said in the same statement: “At first we suspected he might be a mole of the Islamist movement. But now I believe he is a psychopath who adheres to far-right conspiracy ideologies.”
Police in Magdeburg, the capital of Saxony-Anhalt state, said on Sunday that the people who died were four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75, as well as a 9-year-old boy.
Authorities said 200 people were injured, including 41 seriously. They were being treated at various hospitals in Magdeburg, which is about 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Berlin, and further afield.
The suspect was brought before a judge on Saturday evening, who ordered him held behind closed doors on charges of murder and attempted murder. He faces possible charges.
The horror of yet another act of mass violence in Germany means migration is likely to remain a key issue as the country heads towards a snap election on February 23. agenda, and led Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government to tighten border security measures.
Right-wing figures across Europe have criticized German authorities for allowing high levels of migration in the past and for what they see as security lapses now.
The Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbánwho has been known for a strong anti-immigration stance for years, used the attack in Germany to attack the migration policies of the European Union and described it as a “terrorist act”.
At an annual press conference in Budapest on Saturday, Orbán insisted that “there is no doubt that there is a link between the changed world of Western Europe, the migration that flows there, especially illegal migration and terrorist acts.” .
Orbán vowed to “fight back” against the EU’s migration policies and alleged without evidence that “Brussels wants Magdeburg to happen in Hungary too.”