Christmas market attacker jailed for life for murdering six in Germany

A court in Germany has sentenced a man to life in prison for an attack on the Christmas market in Magdeburg in 2024, in which six people were killed.

The court imposed the maximum sentence on the defendant, Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen, who is from Saudi Arabia. The 51-year-old was found guilty of murder.

Prosecutors say he drove a rented BMW car at speeds of up to 48km/h (30mph) through the Christmas market in the centre of Magdeburg on 20 December 2024.

They say the attack took place at 19:02 local time when the market was very crowded with Christmas revellers celebrating at the gingerbread and mulled wine stalls. It lasted just a minute and four seconds.

A nine-year-old boy and five women between the ages of 45 and 75 were killed. Around 300 others were injured.

Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen was arrested immediately after the incident.

Prosecutors said he planned the attack well in advance and had acted alone. They said he was not pursuing any serious ideological goals, but acted primarily out of personal motives.

“The defendant’s sole concern was, and remains, himself,” the Chief Public Prosecutor Matthias Böttcher said.

A psychiatric expert said the man had narcissistic personality disorder and an overwhelming need for attention.

Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen told the court he had been motivated to carry out the attack because of conflicts with the German authorities. He said he was angry that the rights of Saudi women were being ignored.

He said very little about the attack itself.

Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen was granted asylum in Germany in 2016. It is understood that he claimed to face the threat of persecution in Saudi Arabia, due to his criticism of Islam and the ruling family. The German Press Agency DPA said he came from Hofuf in Saudi Arabia, and is from the Shiite minority there.

Officials say he had a history of anti-Islamic rhetoric and far-right sympathies.

He has been described as critical of Islam and he also voiced support on social media for the far-right Alternative for Germany party, hailing the party for fighting the same enemy as him “to protect Germany”.

Before the attack, he worked at a clinic in Bernburg, as a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy. He had been employed since 2020 in a secure psychiatric facility for people with addictions, but had most recently been registered as unfit for work.

He has the right to appeal against the verdict.

A temporary courthouse was erected in Magdeburg for his trial, because of the large number of victims.

Germany’s Christmas markets and festivals have come under attack before, mainly from extreme Islamists.

At the time of the attack, officials said Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen was an “untypical” attacker.