“REVENGE” FOR MUSLIMS
Prosecutors say he got down to hurt “nonbelievers” on the “competition for range” within the centre of the western metropolis of Solingen.
Hasan allegedly noticed his targets “as representatives of Western society” and sought “to take revenge in opposition to them for the army actions of Western states”.
A member of IS whom Hasan had contacted that month allegedly inspired him to go forward with the plan and promised him that the group would declare it and use it for propaganda functions.
The group later stated by way of its Amaq outlet on the Telegram messaging app that an IS “soldier” had carried out the assault in “revenge” for Muslims “in Palestine and in every single place”.
Prosecutors say Hasan had filmed movies through which he pledged allegiance to IS and forwarded them on to his IS contact simply earlier than he dedicated the assault.
Within the assertion learn out by his lawyer, Hasan recanted his alleged motivation for finishing up the assault.
“I killed and injured harmless individuals, not unbelievers,” he stated.
“Christians, Jews and Muslims, all of us are cousins, not enemies.”
IMMIGRATION DEBATE
The Solingen stabbing spree was one in a sequence of assaults attributed to asylum seekers and migrants that pushed immigration to the highest of the political agenda in Germany.
In Could 2024, a person with a knife attacked individuals at an anti-Islam rally in Mannheim, mortally wounding a police officer who intervened.
The Afghan suspect within the stabbing went on trial in February and can also be alleged to be sympathetic to the IS group.
In December, a Saudi man was arrested after a automobile rammed right into a Christmas market within the japanese metropolis of Magdeburg, killing six individuals and wounding a whole lot.
And in January, a person with a kitchen knife attacked a gaggle of kindergarten youngsters in Aschaffenburg, killing a two-year-old boy and a person who tried to intervene.
A 28-year-old Afghan man was arrested on the scene of the assault, which got here throughout campaigning for elections on Feb 23.
Simply 10 days earlier than the vote, an Afghan man was arrested on suspicion of ploughing a automobile by means of a road rally in Munich, killing a two-year-old lady and her mom and injuring dozens.
The centre-right CDU/CSU, which demanded robust curbs on immigration within the wake of the assaults, got here first within the election with 28.5 per cent of the vote.
The largest good points nevertheless have been made by the far-right Various for Germany (AfD), which noticed its share of the vote greater than double to over 20 per cent.
