Saudi doctor given life sentence for German Christmas market attack
A German court has sentenced a Saudi-born doctor to life in prison for driving a car into a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg in 2024, killing six people and injuring hundreds.
The defendant, Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, a 51-year-old psychiatrist who had lived in Germany for years, was convicted on 26 June of ramming a rented car into crowds at the historic market days before Christmas. Officials said he had a history of anti-Islam activism and far-right sympathies.
The trial, which opened in late 2025 at the regional court in Magdeburg, saw him face six counts of murder, 338 counts of attempted murder and charges of aggravated bodily harm. The court found him guilty on the major counts and imposed the maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
A psychiatric expert diagnosed the defendant with narcissistic personality disorder, but he was found to be fully criminally responsible. The court classified the crime as particularly severe, a designation that will make early release significantly harder to obtain.
The attack was one of the deadliest in Germany in recent years and fuelled intense political debate over security at public events and the country's handling of extremism, ahead of national elections.
