A Saudi psychiatrist has been sentenced to life imprisonment for killing six people and injuring hundreds after driving a rented BMW into a crowded Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, days before Christmas in 2024.
The sentence was handed down on Friday, June 26, 2026. The defendant, identified as Taleb A. under German privacy laws, was described by authorities as having a history of anti-Islamic rhetoric and far-right sympathies.
Prosecutors said the attack lasted one minute and four seconds and had been planned over several weeks. He was convicted of murdering six people and attempting to murder hundreds more.
The victims included five women aged between 45 and 75 and a nine-year-old boy.
According to prosecutors, the attack was motivated by the defendant’s dissatisfaction with the outcome of a civil dispute and frustration over the failure of several criminal complaints he had filed.
The incident shocked Germany and intensified debate over immigration ahead of the country’s February 2025 general election.
