A Saudi anti-Islam activist who drove his car into a crowded Christmas market in Germany was sentenced to life in prison on Friday.
Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, 51, ploughed a rented SUV through Magdeburg Christmas market in 2024, killing six people and injuring more than 300.
Al-Abdulmohsen, a psychiatrist, drove the BMW into shoppers at speeds of up to 29mph on Dec 20, leaving five women and a nine-year-old boy dead.
He was arrested when he emerged from the badly damaged vehicle and charged with six counts of murder and 338 counts of attempted murder.
In Magdeburg, a large temporary courtroom had to be constructed for the duration of the trial to accommodate hundreds of victims and their families, as well as witnesses.
Al-Abdulmohsen ploughed a rented SUV into shoppers, killing six people and injuring more than 300 – Craig Stennett/Getty Images
Al-Abdulmohsen, his hands shackled, listened to the verdict from inside a bullet-proof glass box.
He was regularly flown to the courthouse in a police helicopter because of security concerns.
The court heard that while he admitted driving a car through the Christmas market, he denied deliberately running people over, a claim prosecutors described as preposterous.
The attack “defies human comprehension” and left the families of victims with “simply indescribable” suffering, Matthias Böttcher, the prosecutor, said during closing arguments.
Far-Right sympathies
While the vehicle-ramming attack was reminiscent of recent jihadist attacks such as those in Berlin and Munich, the doctor, who arrived in Germany in 2006, held staunchly anti-Islam views and had an affinity for far-Right conspiracy theories.
Police investigating al-Abdulmohsen found he sympathised with Alternative for Germany (AfD), Germany’s prominent anti-immigration party, which is classified as a far-Right extremist group by the country’s domestic intelligence agency.
His testimony in court was at times incoherent and riddled with conspiracy theories and fringe far-Right ideas. He staged a hunger strike that forced the court to continue the trial without him for a time.
Al-Abdulmohsen was already known to the police and had been fined for making threats of criminal violence, after accusing German authorities of failing to adequately protect Saudis fleeing their country for religious or political reasons.
People leave candles and floral tributes to the victims near the site of the Magdeburg Christmas market attack in 2024 – Christian Mang/Reuters
Mr Böttcher said al-Abdulmohsen’s motives could be explained by his loss in a civil suit against a Cologne-based refugee organisation.
In closing statements, the prosecutor claimed that al-Abdulmohsen sought revenge for his court defeat and wanted to “continue to attract public and media attention”.
During the trial al-Abdulmohsen showed “no remorse, regret or introspection whatsoever”, Mr Böttcher added.
The defendant was diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder by a psychiatric expert, but was found to be fully criminally responsible. His crime was classified as “particularly severe”, which will make it harder for him to attain early release.
More than 100 witnesses appeared in court, as well as around 40 lawyers representing 200 civil parties.
Thomas Klaus, a lawyer, representing more than 100 victims or their relatives, told the AFP news agency that it was “expected that he will, in fact, serve this sentence for the rest of his life”.
The Magdeburg Christmas market reopened last year, but with added security fixtures of concrete blocks and armed police, with some visitors telling AFP at the time that it resembled a fortress.