The suspect, a doctor from Saudi Arabia named Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, arrived in Germany in 2006 and was granted refugee status in 2016.
An atheist, he ran a website aimed at helping other ex-Muslims escape persecution in their Gulf homelands. His social media was full of anti-Islam sentiments and conspiracy theories.
At a press conference on Saturday, Magdeburg police chief Tom-Oliver Langhans said the police had conducted an assessment of whether the suspect could be a potential threat, “but that discussion was a year ago.”
He added that investigations into the suspect’s past are ongoing and declined to comment further.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told German newspaper Bild that investigators would examine “in detail” what information the authorities had about the suspect in the past and how he was investigated.
The German Office for Migration and Refugees announced in a post on social media that it had filed a complaint against the suspect, which it “took seriously,” but as the office is not an investigative body, it referred the complainant to other authorities.
One tip received by authorities is believed to have come from Saudi Arabia, the suspect’s home country.
A source close to the Saudi government told the BBC it had sent four official notices known as “Notes Verbal” to German authorities, warning them of what they said were “very extreme views” of al-Abdulmohsen.
However, a counter-terrorism expert told the BBC that the Saudis may have launched a disinformation campaign to discredit someone who tried to help young Saudi women seek asylum in Germany.
Langhans said on Saturday that he had no information when asked about the Saudi Arabian issuance of the warning.
Later, the head of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Münch, told public broadcaster ZDF that his office had received a tip from Saudi Arabia in November 2023. He said the local police had taken appropriate investigative measures, but the matter was non-specific.
He added that the suspect “had various contacts with the authorities, he insulted them and even threatened them, but he was not known for violent actions.”
Past investigations should be reviewed again, Münch said.
