In the German city of Dresden, the lawsuit against 21-year-old Syrian Abdullah H. He is suspected of a knife attack on two men, a gay couple, last October. One of them died, the other was seriously injured but eventually survived the attempt on his life.
The OM is prosecuting H. for murder and manslaughter. According to the prosecution H. acted on the basis of his radical Islamic and homophobic beliefs. He wanted the “unbelievers” to “disappear” from the free society he hated, the prosecutor writes.
At first little attention was paid to the murder in Dresden, it has also been called ‘the forgotten attack’. That’s because it was first thought of a robbery. Only when the perpetrator was arrested more than two weeks later, and he turned out to be an ISIS supporter, was the murder seen as an attack. The national prosecutor’s office picked up the case and started an investigation into the motives behind the attack.
Just released from prison
It was known that H. has radical Islamic ideas and wants to defend his views with violence. He had just been out of prison for five days at the time of the attack. He served a sentence there, including for the use of IS symbols, threats and assault.
H. came to Germany in 2015 as a refugee. According to researchers, he only started to radicalise there, it soon became clear that he posed a serious danger. He ‘converted’ to IS and came into the crosshairs of the intelligence services. When he searched the internet for explosives and manuals for manufacturing a bomb vest, he was arrested.
In prison, H. said that he believes that unbelievers should be beheaded and that Sharia should be introduced. There was nothing to indicate that he had said goodbye to his radical views. He was released, but with strict probation conditions: he had to report three times a week, was not allowed to make contact with radicals and was not allowed to carry weapons.
He also had to report regularly to a deradicalisation organization. He did that even after the stabbing incident. To der Spiegel his supervisors said that they noticed nothing special about H. An employee of the Public Prosecution Service said during a closed session of the Interior Committee of the German parliament that “you are left bewildered by people who are like this.”
In the process it must become clear whether H. chose the men because they are gay. Until now, he has not yet commented on the deed. If he is tried under juvenile law, he will face a sentence of up to ten years in prison.
