German prosecutors on Sunday released the name of the 26-year-old Syrian suspected of a multiple stabbing attack in the western city of Solingen that left three people dead and eight injured.
Issa Al H., who was identified without his last name due to German privacy laws, was flown by helicopter to the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe for his first hearing.
Al H. was placed in pre-trial detention on suspicion of murder and membership in the so-called Islamic State (IS) group, among other charges, the federal prosecutor’s office said.
ISIS claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack, saying it was aimed at “revenging Muslims in Palestine and elsewhere.” But the group has not provided evidence and it is not possible to verify the claim.
Earlier Sunday, police said the suspect had surrendered and admitted responsibility for the attack. German news magazine Mirror The suspect was reported to have arrived in Germany in 2022 as a refugee and applied for asylum in the city of Bielefeld.
According to the German news agency dpa, the man’s asylum application was rejected and he should have been deported last year. The agency did not cite any sources to support its information.
Al H. came from a refugee shelter in Solingen that was raided on Saturday, said Herbert Reul, the interior minister of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where Solingen is located.
Random attacks at the “Diversity Festival”
Friday’s attack took place in front of a concert stage during an event on Solingen’s market square to commemorate the city’s 650-year history.
Two men aged 67 and 56 and a 56-year-old woman were killed by the knife-wielding assailant, who also injured eight others, four of them seriously. The seriously injured are said to be recovering after being treated at nearby hospitals.
The attacker fled without being identified in the panic caused by the attacks, which police say deliberately targeted the victims’ throats.
German authorities also said they arrested a 15-year-old boy on suspicion of knowing about the planned attack and failing to inform authorities.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz visits Solingen after attack
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will travel to Solingen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) on Monday morning following the deadly knife attack in the town.
Scholz will reportedly attend a memorial service for the victims of what has been called a terrorist attack.
Scholz will also meet Mayor Tim Kurzbach and the emergency services and police officers present on site. He will be accompanied to Solingen by the Minister President of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Hendrik Wüst (CDU).
German minister calls for stricter knife laws
As knife crime is on the rise in Germany, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck has called for stricter knife laws following the attack.
“Nobody in Germany needs to have a knife in a public place,” the Green politician said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, adding that “Islamic terrorism” was one of the “greatest security dangers” facing Germany.
The Solingen incident risks further stoking anti-immigration sentiment and xenophobia in some sectors of German society and could boost support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party ahead of elections next week in the eastern states of Thuringia and Saxony, where the party already enjoys considerable popularity.
The opposition, meanwhile, is calling for stricter expulsion policies following the attack.
German political opponents have renewed calls for tougher deportation policies after a new knife attack by a man whose asylum application had long been rejected.
The chairman of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Friedrich Merz, and the leader of the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), Markus Söder, have called on Scholz’s coalition government to stop procrastinating and finally start vigorously deporting immigrants whose asylum applications have been rejected, even if they come from countries such as Afghanistan or Syria.
“An asylum seeker whose application is rejected must leave the country,” said Mr Söder, who is also Bavaria’s prime minister.
In separate television interviews recorded on Sunday, Söder said: “We find ourselves overwhelmed when it comes to migration.”
He added that the laws should be changed as soon as possible, suggesting that a “refugee cap” might be necessary, adding that in his view it should be less than 100,000 per year.
Another worry for Söder was the fact that the perpetrator of this weekend’s knife attack in Solingen had been refused asylum, but was still in the country more than a year later.
“The truth is simple: we need to be firmer. We need to allow the police to carry out checks,” he said, arguing for example for random checks of foreigners in pedestrian zones.
CDU leader Merz called on Sunday for a complete halt to the admission of Afghan and Syrian refugees into the country, demanding that Chancellor Olaf Scholz take swift and decisive action to “prevent further terrorist attacks in Germany.”
“It’s not the knives that are the problem, but the people who walk around with them,” Merz wrote. “In the majority of cases, they are refugees, and in the majority of cases, the motivations are Islamist.”
js, mm, tj/nm, wd (AP, dpa, Reuters)
*Editor’s note: DW follows the German press code, which emphasizes the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and urges us not to reveal the full names of suspected criminals.
While you’re here: Every Tuesday, DW editors take stock of current German politics and society. Sign up here for the weekly Berlin Briefing newsletter.
