Saudi doc goes on trial for deadly German Christmas market attack

MAGDEBURG, Germany (AFP) — 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 wounded more than 300.

Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old psychiatrist, was arrested next to the battered vehicle after the attack on 20 December last year in the eastern city of Magdeburg.

Prosecutors say 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 that stunned the nation days before the Christmas festival.

The attack, in which a rented BMW raced into the crowd, 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 Abdulmohsen’s history of extreme rhetoric and violent threats.

He will face six counts of murder and 338 counts of attempted murder in a trial expected to last until at least March.

The enormous number of victims and witnesses means that the trial will be held in a specially built temporary hall as no existing courtroom in the state of Saxony-Anhalt could accommodate the trial.

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