Man given life sentence for deadly car rampage on German Christmas market

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - BERLIN — A court in Germany sentenced a man to life in prison on Friday for killing six people and injuring hundreds, after ‌he rammed a rented car into crowds at a historic market in the eastern city of Magdeburg days before Christmas in 2024.

The court imposed the maximum sentence on Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen, who is originally from Hofuf in Saudi Arabia. The 51-year-old was found guilty of murder.

The defendant was a psychiatrist, described by officials as having a history of anti-Islamic rhetoric and far-right sympathies.

The attack shocked the country and stirred up tensions over the charged ​issue of immigration, months before a general election that was held in February 2025.

Prosecutors say he drove a rented BMW car at speeds of up to 48km/h (30mph) through the Christmas market in the center of Magdeburg on December 20, 2024.

"Throughout the entire trial, the defendant displayed behavior indicative of a ​narcissistic personality disorder, a diagnosis also confirmed by the expert witness," court spokesperson Christian Loeffler said in a statement.

"This means ⁠he places himself at the center of everything. He sees only himself and not the suffering of other people."

Prosecutors charged the man with murdering six people and ​the attempted murder of hundreds more in an attack they say lasted one minute and four seconds and was planned over several weeks. Five women aged 45 to ​75 and a 9-year-old boy were killed.

Al-Abdulmohsen was arrested immediately after the incident.

Prosecutors said he planned the attack well in advance and had acted alone. They said he was not pursuing any serious ideological goals, but acted primarily out of personal motives.

Al-Abdulmohsen told the court he had been motivated to carry out the attack because of conflicts with the German authorities. He said he was angry that the rights of women were being ignored.

He said very little about the attack itself.

He has voiced support on social media for the far-right Alternative for Germany party, hailing the party for fighting the same enemy as him "to protect Germany".

Before the attack, he worked at a clinic in Bernburg, as a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy. He had been employed since 2020 in a secure psychiatric facility for people with addictions, but had most recently been registered as unfit for work.

He has the right to appeal against the verdict.

A temporary courthouse was erected in Magdeburg for his trial, because of the large number of victims.