Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen

Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen
طالب العبدالمحسن
Saudi identification photograph of al-Abdulmohsen c. 2008
Born	Taleb bin Jawad bin Hussein Al-Abdulmohsen (1974-11-05) 5 November 1974 Hufuf, Saudi Arabia
Nationality	Saudi Arabian
Occupation	Psychiatrist
Years active	2006–2024
Known for	Allegedly perpetrating the 2024 Magdeburg car attack Ex-Muslim activism

Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen (born 5 November 1974) is a Saudi Arabian psychiatrist, activist, and suspect in the 2024 Magdeburg car attack, which killed 5 people and injured over 200.

He relocated to Germany in 2006 to specialize in psychotherapy, applied for political asylum, which was granted in 2016, even though the Rostock District Court had fined him for "disturbance of public peace through the threat of criminal acts" in 2013.

Early life and education

Talib Al-Abdulmohsen was born in Hufuf, Saudi Arabia, in 1974. He hailed from a Shiite family in the largely Shiite Al-Ahsa Governorate.

He pursued medical studies and specialized in psychiatry.

Career

In 2006, at age 32, Abdulmohsen relocated to Germany to specialize in psychotherapy. He later applied for political asylum, because he was threatened with death for renouncing Islam.

In September 2013, the Rostock District Court fined him the equivalent of 90 daily rates, according to Spiegel and Die Zeit, for "disturbance of public peace through the threat of criminal acts".

In 2016, Germany granted him political asylum, citing concerns over his safety and rights, if he was returned to Saudi Arabia. Even though Abdulmohsen is wanted by Saudi Arabia on charges related to terrorism and human trafficking, specifically allegations of facilitating the trafficking of individuals from Saudi Arabia and Gulf states to the European Union, the German government refused to extradite him, citing a lack of due process in Saudi Arabia.

Since March 2020, he worked as a doctor in the Federal Penitentiary at Bernburg, a state prison for drug rehabilitation. Since the end of October 2024, he was no longer on duty due to holidays and illness.

2024 Magdeburg car attack

Main article: 2024 Magdeburg car attack

On 20 December 2024, Abdulmohsen allegedly drove a vehicle while under the influence of drugs into a crowded Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, killing at least 5 people, including a nine-year-old child, and injuring over 200 others. He was arrested at the scene.

Personal life and political views

Al Abdulmohsen lived in Bernburg, about 50 kilometers south of Magdeburg and has been described as introvert with limited social interactions.

In media appearances, Abdulmohsen has presented himself as an ex-Muslim activist against Islam.

In February 2019 Der Spiegel reported on him, that he would – through his web forum wearesaudis.net and X (then known as Twitter) – help others to escape from Saudi Arabia to Germany. In March 2019, Abdulmohsen gave interviews to the Frankfurter Rundschau and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, in which he was presented as an escape/migration helper. In these he said about himself, "I am the most aggressive critic of Islam in history. [...] There is no good Islam."Also in 2019 Abuldmohsen appeared on the BBC showcasing his website intended to help asylum seeking apostates, "especially from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region".

The Saudi monarchy is said to have warned German security authorities about Abdulmohsen at least three times between November 2023 and December 2024, but the warnings were ignored, after he posted extremist views on his X account threatening peace and security. The Foreign Intelligence Service of Germany had received a report from Saudi Arabia that Al-Abdulmohsen had announced something big in Germany as early as 2023 and are said to have followed up on this tip. In the fall of 2023, a woman who had been in contact with Al-Abdulmohsen via the Internet tried to warn the police in Berlin that Al-Abdulmohsen wanted to kill 20 Germans. However, she sent her email to the police in Berlin, New Jersey.

In February 2024 the Berlin Public Office accused him of abuse of emergency calls, because he had placed an emergency call for the fire brigade in the building of the Berlin police without an emergency. A criminal order was issued with 20 daily rates at 30 euros each. He did not appear for the hearing on 19 December, one day before the attack.

In an X post from 5 December 2024, Abdulmohsen declared that Angela Merkel deserved the death penalty for "her secret criminal project of Islamizing Europe".Abdulmohsen shared pro-Israel content on his X profile, he also published a post claiming that "Parts of Syria were lucky enough to join Israel", retweeting a post made by Benjamin Netanyahu which celebrated the fall of Assad.

On X, he had posted an AR-15–style rifle (Juggernaut Tactical JT-15) with a US flag as a profile picture and conspiracy theories such as "Germany is persecuting Saudi asylum seekers inside and outside Germany in order to destroy their lives" and "Germany wants to Islamize Europe." Several well-known officials of the German far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) and its right-wing extremist youth organization Junge Alternative followed his X account. Furthermore, he expressed his sympathy on X for the AfD and dreamed of a joint project with the far-right party: an academy for ex-Muslims. He also made a website that tried to help ex-Muslims gain asylum in other countries, and he considers himself an atheist as of 2019.

In a 45-minute video interview on the anti-Islamic US blog, the RAIR Foundation, eight days before the attack, Abdulmohsen spread theories that the German state is conducting a "covert secret operation" to "hunt and destroy the lives" of Saudi ex-Muslims around the world, but at the same time Syrian jihadists are receiving asylum in Germany. In the interview he describes himself as a leftist.

Abdulmohsen had shared similar right-wing ideological content, including content from German politician Alice Weidel of AfD, Alex Jones, and Elon Musk. He shared a video by German right-wing influencer Naomi Seibt.

A few minutes before the attack, he posted more videos on his social media profile on X. In one of them, Al-Abdulmohsen said: "Another reason why I hold German citizens responsible for the persecution I experience in Germany is the story of a USB stick stolen from my mailbox." He also said: "The police themselves are the criminals. In this case, I hold the German nation, I hold the German citizens responsible for what is in store for me."

According to information from several public broadcasters and private media in Germany, people have reported to the police several times because of threats of violence from Al-Abdulmohsen.

Der Spiegel reported that Elon Musk was one of his role models and that Abdulmohsen declared "If you listen to someone like Tommy Robinson or even Elon Musk, and even if you're ignorant of the process of Islamization, you'll think they're conspiracy theorists. But I can say from experience that anything Robinson says, what Musk says, what Alex Jones says, or anyone who is labeled a radical or a right-wing extremist by mainstream media—they're telling the truth." Rami Jarrah, a journalist shared his post which said, "Me and AfD are fighting the same enemy to protect Germany." Germany's FAZ described him as an anti-Islam activist and told Newsweek that in a 2019 interview with him, he declared that he was "history's most aggressive critic of Islam" and to "ask the Arabs" if they doubted him. An unnamed German official cited by The Washington Post stated that "an X account appearing to be affiliated with the suspect contained content condemning Islam" and described him as a Saudi dissident.