According to the German authorities, Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, the Saudi doctor alleged perpetrator of the attack at the Magdeburg Christmas market last Friday December 20, is suffering from “psychiatric disorders”.
The German government reported this Monday, December 30, “signs” of psychiatric disorders in the alleged perpetrator of the fatal car-ramming attack on the Magdeburg Christmas market, whose behavior reflects a “pathological psyche.”
“What is striking are the thousands of statements” made by the attacker on social networks “which indicate a pathological psyche,” declared the Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser, after a hearing before the Internal Affairs Committee of the National Chamber of Deputies.
Since December 20, Germany has been wondering about the reasons which pushed Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who came to Germany in 2006, to mow down the Christmas market crowd in a powerful BMW vehicle. launched at full speed. This attack left five people dead and more than 200 injured.
This is the first time that the authorities have officially reported psychological problems of the alleged perpetrator, arrested at the scene of the tragedy in his car.
“Everything is not yet on the table”, according to the German minister
This man known for his hostile opinions against Islam, who had broken with his religion and his country of origin, “does not fit into any previous pattern” known to the authorities, she also underlined.
“There are tens of thousands of tweets from the attacker. This is why everything is not yet on the table,” said Nancy Faeser.
The security services will have to learn to better understand this profile of individuals “with psychological disorders and often motivated by confused conspiracy theories”, she further estimated.
Even if “it would certainly have been important to compare the knowledge” about the suspect, collected in the past by different national and regional authorities, without always communicating with each other, the tragedy “could not have been avoided” , however judged the minister.
She thus responded to accusations from opposition parties and several media who accuse the authorities of failings in this affair.
