The secret services of Saudi Arabia warned the German authorities about a year ago of the danger of doctor Taleb A., arrested for the attack committed this Friday in Magdeburg, to the east of the country, in which five people died in a mass accident at a Christmas market.
According to the president of the Federal Criminal Office (BKA), Holger Munch, the warning –which he described as “abstract”– was referred to the Regional Criminal Office (LKA) of the state of Saxony Anhalt, which saw no reason to take action.
On the other hand, it has been known that already in 2013 Taleb A. had threatened an attackon that occasion against the College of Physicians of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (east of the country) which had not recognized part of his training.
In a phone call Taleb A. threatened action that would have international repercussions and mentioned the Islamist attack against the Boston Marathon, which had been committed two days earlier.
According to the Ministry of the Interior of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the home of Taleb A. It was registered two days later but no evidence was found that he actually planned an attack. In the end everything ended in a fine for disturbing public order with threats to which he was sentenced by a court in Rostock.
An event with “international” repercussions
Between 2011 and 2014 Taleb A. lived in Stralsund (northeast Germany) where he did his specialization in psychiatry and there, after having asked for financial aid, he threatened to commit an act that would have “international” repercussions. On another occasion he threatened to commit suicide. In 2015 he complained to the Ministry of the Interior about the fine to which he had been sentenced in Rostock, called the judge racist and threatened to get a gun.
Despite all this – and threats made on social networks for taking revenge against alleged German plans to Islamize Europe – Taleb A. was not in the sights of security agencies. In 2016 Taleb A. obtained asylum in Germany and in the process he argued that because he had separated from Islam his life was in danger in Saudi Arabia.
Terrorism expert Peter Neumann – author of the book The return of terror- has said that there are at least two explanations for Taleb A. not being targeted by security agencies. The first is that it did not respond to any clear pattern. Since he was critical of Islam, no one considered him as a potential Islamist terrorist and since he was a migrant, no one considered him as a potential far-right terrorist.
Neumann has suggested including a new standard for detecting terrorist dangers – which has already been introduced in the United Kingdom during the pandemic – and which includes people with conspiratorial delusions of any type and who are not psychologically stable.
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