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Who is the suspect behind the German Christmas market attack?

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Four people were killed and more than 40 ‘gravely wounded’ in Magdeburg, eastern Germany (Picture: AFP)

Posts about how Germany wants to ‘islamise Europe,’ how Tesla’s Elon Musk should be arrested and Tommy Robinson censored – this is what the suspect in the deadly Christmas market attack posted about on X.

Taleb A. has been identified as the man who was arrested after a BMW slammed into a crowd in the city of Magdeburg, killing five people, including a toddler.

Footage showed his arrest at gunpoint by German police moments after the attack on Friday evening.

So, who is the 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia? Metro details what we know about him.

Who is the suspect in the Christmas market attack?

Several German media outlets named the man as Taleb A., withholding his last name in line with privacy laws.

In the UK, he has been identified as the man behind the wearesaudis.net website.

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A woman lays down a cuddly toy at the memorial site at St John’s Church in Magdeburg
(Picture: AP)

BILD reported that he has been living in Germany since 2006 and has a permanent residence permit.

After successfully seeking asylum, he created the page as an information resource for others who had fled Saudi Arabia like him.

Based on a 2019 report by the BBC, in which he is interviewed about the website, the man escaped his country as he was incapable of expressing his atheism safely.

It was also reported that Taleb A. is a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy.

What does he say about Islam and Germany’s far-right?

There are still no answers as to what caused Taleb A. to drive into a crowd the eastern city of Magdeburg.

One of the suspect’s retweets about a woman allegedly being stoned to death

Describing himself as a former Muslim, he shared dozens of tweets and retweets daily focusing on anti-Islam themes.

His account’s biography reads: ‘Saudi Military Opposition. Germany chases female Saudi asylum seekers, inside and outside Germany, to destroy their lives. Germany wants to islamise Europe.’

The suspect criticised the religion, sharing conspiracy theories about it, and congratulated Muslims who had abandoned the faith.

Taleb A. also accused German authorities of failing to do enough to combat what he said was the ‘Islamism of Europe.’

Some described him as an activist who helped Saudi women escape their homeland.

He shared conspiracy theories about Islam wanting ‘global domination’

He has also voiced support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Recently, Taleb A. seemed focused on his theory that authorities in Germany have been targeting Saudi asylum seekers.

Prominent German security expert Peter Neumann said he had yet to come across a suspect in an act of mass violence with that profile.

‘After 25 years in this “business” you think nothing could surprise you anymore,’ Neumann, the director of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence at King’s College London, wrote on X.

‘But a 50-year-old Saudi ex-Muslim who lives in East Germany, loves the AfD and wants to punish Germany for its tolerance towards Islamists — that really wasn’t on my radar.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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