This is what we know about the Magdeburg suspect

He had repeatedly attracted attention online with his hatred of Islam and threats. Authorities had also been warned several times about the man, who has now been arrested in Magdeburg. It is still unclear whether the tips were ever followed up on.

The morning after the attack on the Magdeburg Christmas market with at least five dead, 40 seriously injured and 90 seriously injured, security authorities are looking for the suspected perpetrator's motive.

At the same time, information about the 50-year-old is increasing. According to research by WDR, NDR and Süddeutscher Zeitung (SZ), the man was known to several authorities. He was apparently repeatedly noticed online with threats of violence.

Specialist in Psychiatry

The person arrested at the crime scene is a psychiatric specialist born in Saudi Arabia in 1974 who is said to have worked in a clinic in the Salzland district near Magdeburg for a few years.

The man's employer confirmed that the doctor had been working for the clinic in the so-called penal system since 2020 and had been on vacation and on sick leave since October. He is said to have lived in Germany since 2006, initially completed his specialist training and only received a protective title around ten years later.

Revenge for “Islamization”

He had already renounced Islam at the end of the 1990s, described himself as an atheist and sharply criticized Islam. This is what the man himself, who appeared in public as a refugee activist, told the Frankfurter Rundschau in an interview in 2019.

Accordingly, the alleged perpetrator saw an alleged Islamization of Germany and criticized German politics and authorities for this on social media. He announced several times that he wanted to take revenge on them. He is also said to have kept authorities busy with a large number of emails and letters.

According to investigators, a first drug test after the arrest was positive. The Bild newspaper first reported on it.

Explicit Threats of violence

Anyone who follows the man's numerous publicly visible statements on social media over several years will also find explicit threats of violence. However, according to information from the police, WDR, NDR and SZ have reported these violent threats several times, including in Magdeburg. The police in Magdeburg and the Ministry of the Interior have not yet responded to inquiries about this.

In late summer last year, the Federal Office for Migration also received a tip via its social media channels about the person suspected of being responsible for the attack.

This, a spokeswoman explained when asked, was taken seriously like any other of the numerous tips. “Since the Federal Office is not an investigative authority, the person who provided information was referred directly to the responsible authorities, as is usual in such cases.”

Sentenced to 90 daily rates of ten euros each

According to research by the ARD capital studios A. is said to have been noticeable more than ten years ago. Investigators said that in 2013 he was sentenced by the Rostock district court to 90 daily rates of ten euros each for threatening to commit crimes. However, in the later asylum procedure, the conviction did not lead to his application being rejected. However, the alleged perpetrator was not classified as a threat and, according to information from security circles, he was not known to the authorities as an extremist.

Saudi authorities are also said to have reported to German security authorities before the crime and warned of a possible danger from the alleged perpetrator. Accordingly, the Federal Intelligence Service is said to have received a report from Saudi Arabia with reference to a social media statement by the man in which he is said to have announced something “big” in Germany last year.

The responsible state authorities in Saxony-Anhalt should follow this information from WDR, NDR and SZ – it is still unclear whether and what the authorities did as a result.

“Isolated and aggressive”

The 50-year-old was no stranger to the Saudi exile scene. On the social network X, around 40,000 people followed the account assigned to him. He also gave interviews to numerous German and international media about his activist work as an opposition member of the Saudi royal family.

Accordingly, he acted as a contact person for asylum seekers and apparently paid particular attention to women who wanted to leave the country and sought asylum abroad. WDR, NDR and SZ were able to speak to two Saudi opposition members in Germany and Great Britain who knew the alleged perpetrator personally. They describe him as isolated and aggressive.

Support for the AfD

One of these acquaintances reports that the alleged perpetrator also told him at least once that he supported the AfD. One of the interviewees, a British activist, reports that he was convinced by politicians who positioned themselves on the far right. Traces of this support can also be found online, as Spiegel first reported.

Accordingly, he said several times that he supported the policies of the AfD, followed numerous accounts of AfD politicians and interacted with them. Once, in 2016, the AfD man even suggested a joint “academy” for former Muslims, as he himself reported on his X account. Who else but the AfD is fighting Islam in Germany?, he noted.

Some of his recent posts give the impression that he felt persecuted by the German state. How WDR, NDR and SZ heard from AfD party circles, he was neither a donor to the party nor a party member.