After the deadly terror attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, the capital of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, it has emerged that German officials received several warnings about the alleged perpetrator over the past few years but failed to act on them.
At least five people – four women and a nine-year-old boy – have died after the suspect named only as “Taleb A” allegedly drove a 4×4 vehicle into the crowded market square on December 20.
More than 200 people were injured, dozens critically. The attacker ploughed through the crowds for 400 metres swerving left and right before being stopped and arrested by police.
Over the weekend it has become clear that Taleb A – a Saudi national who came to Germany as an asylum seeker in 2006 and worked as a psychiatrist – was well known in Germany as a supposed critic of Islam. His account on X had more than 10,000 followers.
In 2013, Taleb A had reportedly allegedly threatened to commit a terror attack in a communication with the Chamber of Physicians of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The police searched his apartment but found no indication of an imminent attack. He was later fined for “threatening to commit a crime”. Despite that, he was granted asylum in Germany in 2016.
After the incident in Magdeburg it was claimed by former colleagues that Taleb A had some time ago been banned from working at one hospital after he allegedly prescribed patients potentially lethal medication.
In August 2023, he reportedly posted on X: “A purely philosophical question: Would you resent me for indiscriminately killing twenty Germans because Germany is working against the Saudi opposition?”
Several X users have now posted screenshots of their correspondence with German police in which they said they tried to warn them of Taleb A’s alleged plans. These were apparently not acted upon. In many cases, the users did not speak German and the German authorities seemed unable or unwilling to converse in English.
After a threatening e-mail to the Prosecutor’s Office in Cologne in 2023, Taleb A received a letter from police telling him “to stop writing such letters”.
Peter Neumann, a terrorism expert, told German state TV on December 22 that Taleb A may have been disregarded by German police because he was not seen as a typical Islamist but a Saudi who opposed Islam.
Ali Utlu, a prominent German ex-Muslim commentator, alleged on X on December 22 Taleb A had repeatedly threatened him and other ex-Muslims. According to Utlu, Taleb A also said that as a Shia Muslim he recognised Wahhabism as the “true religion”.
Utlu claimed that while he had received requests for interviews from international media including the BBC, German media had not approached him.
“It seems in Germany they are only interested in one side,” he wrote on X, also on December 22.
