Last week, five people and over 200 were left wounded in a Christmas market ramming attack that has left Germany reeling. German public officials have claimed the attacker, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, was a far-right extremist, while rumors have circulated about his true motives- so what is actually known about the attacker?
Abdulmohsen is a Saudi Arabian national who claimed asylum in Germany after studying medicine in the United States, according to German news site Welt. The site previously reported he had undergone recent psychological treatments.
Abdulmohsen arrived in Germany in 2006 but was only granted refugee status in 2016, according to CBS News.
German authorities are seeking to charge Abdulmohsen with five counts of murder and 205 counts of attempted murder but not terrorism, CBS reported, citing prosecutors.
The suspect had worked as a psychiatrist at a specialist rehabilitation clinic for criminals with addictions in Bernburg since March 2020. "Since the end of October 2024, he has been absent due to holiday and illness," the facility said in a statement.
Early warning signs
Saudi warnings were sent to Germany a year before the attack, according to Holger Muench, president of the federal criminal police office, who told public broadcaster ZDF that authorities investigated Abdulmohsen. According to broadcaster ZDF, the suspect was known to the relevant federal authorities at the beginning of 2015, at the latest, due to his possible intentions to carry out an attack.
Saudi Arabia had reportedly tried to extradite Abdulmohsen, considering him a fugitive, in 2007 and 2008, according to CNN. Germany refused the extradition request, fearing for his safety.
"The man also published a huge number of posts on the internet. He also had various contacts with the authorities and made insults and even threats. But he was not known for acts of violence," Muench said.
Abdulmohsen had left video messages on his X social media account on the day of the attack.
In rambling commentary, he variously blamed Germany's supposed liberalism for the death of Socrates, an ancient Greek philosopher. He accused police of stealing a USB stick from him and destroying a criminal complaint he had filed.
On the night of his arrest, Abdulmohsen tested positive for drug use, although it is unclear which drug, according to CBS News.
German officials and Reuters claimed he had a history of anti-Islamic rhetoric and a deep sympathy for the far-right Alternative for Germany Party (AfD).
The 50-year-old had also been in regular contact with international media. He told Germany's FAZ newspaper in June 2019, "There is no good Islam," after appearing in a BBC documentary where he declared his atheism.
CNN reported that Abdulmohsen had previously spoken with the site about his work helping women flee Saudi Arabia. Alarms were raised over his work after he began publicizing women’s ongoing cases - which authorities reportedly feared would endanger the asylum seekers if they returned to their country of origin.
Despite initial communications focusing on his work, CNN claimed he later contacted the reports with “a barrage of aggressive messages” containing “unsubstantiated stories and claims related to his advocacy work.”
Following the messages, CNN reported their journalists blocked notifications from him, which is when he began sending “direct threats against the German people” to the media site over X/Twitter.
CNN stressed that they did not see the threats until after the attack.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser declined to comment on the suspect's motives for the attack or political affiliations but said his Islamophobia was "clear to see."
The local prosecutor in Magdeburg, Horst Nopens, said a possible factor in the attack may have been the suspect's "dissatisfaction with the treatment of Saudi refugees in Germany" but added that the motive remained unclear.
In 2013, Welt reported that Abdulmohsen told a medical association employee on the phone that something would happen to attract international attention as he grew frustrated over a lengthy application process.
"He asked the employee whether she had seen the pictures from Boston. Something like that would happen here too," officials briefed Welt. The comments came only a day after the Boston Marathon bombing, where hundreds of people were wounded and three were killed.
Welt also reported that in 2015, Abdulmohsen wrote a letter to Germany’s Attorney General, which he issued, “From a purely postmodern philosophical point of view, you are dirty bacteria that should soon be destroyed in order to protect the German people from your danger. My moral duty, however, is to destroy Articles 92 and 97, Paragraph 1 of the Basic Law.
“I am prepared to pay for this with my whole life. It is only a matter of time. But it will not be long. The whole world will be talking about it."