Saudi doctor goes on trial over deadly German Christmas market attack

Six were killed and more than 300 injured in attack in Magdeburg last year

Taleb Jawed al-Abdulmohsen, 51, from Saudi Arabia, who faces charges of murder and attempted murder, appears at the opening of the Christmas market attack trial, in Magdeburg. Reuters

A Saudi doctor goes on trial in Germany on Monday accused of driving an SUV through a Christmas market in a rampage that killed six people and injured more than 300.

Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old psychiatrist, was arrested next to the battered vehicle after the attack in the run-up to the Christmas festival last year in the eastern German city of Magdeburg.

Prosecutors say Mr Abdulmohsen – a critic of Islam and an adherent of far-right views and radical conspiracy theories – was motivated by "dissatisfaction and frustration".

They say he aimed "to kill as many people as possible" in the attack on December 20, in which a rented BMW sped into the crowd market, killed a nine-year-old boy and five women aged between 45 and 75.

Security services later faced uncomfortable questions about whether the attack could have been prevented, given Mr Abdulmohsen's history of extreme rhetoric and violent threats.

He is accused of six murders and 338 attempted murders in a trial expected to last at least four months.

The enormous number of victims and witnesses means the trial is being held in a specially built temporary hall, as no existing courtroom in the state of Saxony-Anhalt could accommodate it otherwise.

Mr Abdulmohsen, who will be sitting in a bullet-proof booth, faces life in prison if convicted.

Flowers and candles in tribute to the victims are placed outside the Johanniskirche, near the site of a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, last December. AFP

Multiple warnings

Mr Abdulmohsen arrived in Germany in 2006 and was awarded refugee status 10 years later.

Active at times as a migrant rights campaigner, he was also a prolific user of social media, repeating far-right conspiracy theories and writing rambling posts critical of Islam and the German government's attitude towards it.

He had been working as a psychiatrist since 2020 despite concerns over his competence that led some colleagues to nickname him "Dr Google", news magazine Der Spiegel reported.

The magazine also said Saudi authorities tried to warn German intelligence about a social media post in August 2024, in which Mr Abdulmohsen mused about attacking a German embassy or "randomly killing Germans".

However, his threats were not taken seriously and his often bizarre ideology appears to have contributed to him falling through the cracks of surveillance by anti-terrorist authorities.

Forensics officers inspect the car involved in the ramming attack in Magdeburg. AFP

The trial will also examine flaws in the security measures at the market, which should have been significantly reinforced after a deadly truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin in 2016. This year, some cities have cancelled the tradition because of the cost of anti-terrorism measures.

The attack in Magdeburg was one of a string committed by foreign citizens that inflamed Germany's debate on immigration in the run-up to a general election in February. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won 20 per cent of the vote.

The party are now riding high in opinion polls in Saxony-Anhalt, of which Magdeburg is the capital, and observers say it has a real chance of taking control of a state for the first time in elections next year.