Magdeburg: The crude theories of the death driver from the Christmas market | Regional

He got into a rental car and drove into a crowd of people at the Magdeburg Christmas market. At least two people, an adult and an infant, died. Police stopped him and arrested him. He is now in custody.

Who is this man: an extremist, a mentally ill person? What drove him to his death journey? BILD documents what is known so far about the Magdeburg driver who killed him.

According to BILD information, his name is Taleb A. He was born in Saudi Arabia in 1974, so he is 50 years old. He has lived in Germany since 2006 with a permanent residence permit. Because he has work: as a doctor. Taleb A. works in Bernburg (Saale), in the local clinic, as a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy. From the clinic it is around 46 kilometers to Magdeburg to the Christmas market. The small town of Bernburg with around 32,000 inhabitants is the home of Taleb A.

His apartment in an old building in Bernburg was initially guarded by the police shortly after the death drive through the Christmas market on Friday evening. At around 3:45 a.m., special forces broke into the apartment and basement of the house. From there it is about a twelve-minute walk to the Bernburg Clinic, where Taleb A. is located.

How to die “wheal” (as BILD belongs to Axel Springer Verlag) reports, he is said to have previously worked there in the penal system. This is an institution run by the state of Saxony-Anhalt to improve and protect addicted criminals.

As BILD learned, Taleb A. is not said to have been known or conspicuous as an Islamist. In an interview with the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” He even criticized Islam in 2019. “I am the most aggressive critic of Islam in history,” he said there. He turned away from Islam. Taleb A.: “That’s why I was threatened: They wanted to ‘slaughter’ me if I returned to Saudi Arabia.” I also decided to apply for asylum in Germany. It wouldn’t have made sense to expose yourself to the risk of having to return and then be killed.” A. also claims to have founded an internet platform that helps Saudi Arabian women apply for asylum in Germany.

▶︎ He also appears to be a critic of Islam on a profile on X, which is apparently run by him. And at the same time keeps spreading brutal theories about Germany.

“Germany is hunting Saudi asylum seekers inside and outside Germany in order to destroy their lives” and “Germany wants to Islamize Europe” is what his alleged profile description says. One of his profile pictures shows a machine gun with “USA” written on it.

A. also shares content praising the AfD and its attitude to Islam. There is also a doctored photo of former Chancellor Angela Merkel holding a sign with the English inscription “I have destroyed Europe” in her hands.

BILD reporter in Magdeburg“Driver found a gap between bollards”

In a video that was posted there minutes after the death drive, a man also introduces himself as Taleb A., a doctor and psychiatrist who works in Germany. In a confusing speech he speaks, among other things, of the fact that critics of Islam are being “actively and criminally” persecuted in Germany.

A. Krude also expanded on these theories in a video interview that appeared on an Islamophobic US blog a few days ago, reports “Spiegel”. The German state, according to A., is running a “covert secret operation” to “hunt down Saudi ex-Muslims worldwide and destroy their lives,” it is said there. At the same time, Syrian jihadists received asylum in Germany.

Taleb A. noticed himself in custody on Friday evening. Saxony-Anhalt’s Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (70, CDU) and the authorities had already spoken of an attack that evening. The background to the fatal trip is currently unclear and the investigation is ongoing.