BERLIN – A Berlin court is set to hand down its verdict Thursday in the case of a young Syrian man accused of a knife attack on a Spanish tourist at the German capital’s Holocaust memorial.
The stabbing in February 2025 inflamed an already heated debate on migration just a few days before a general election in Germany.
The suspect, partially named as Wassim Al M., was a supporter of the Islamic State (IS) group and intended to “target a person of the Jewish faith”, according to the court.
He allegedly approached the 30-year-old victim from behind, among the concrete steles of the memorial, and “inflicted a 14-centimetre-long (more than five-inch) cut to his throat with a knife”, the court said in a statement before the trial.
The victim, who was visiting the memorial with two friends, was badly injured but managed to stagger out of the steles before collapsing in front of the memorial.
Al M. was 19 at the time of the attack, meaning the judges must decide whether to apply juvenile or adult law under a special system for offenders aged 18-20 in Germany.
The decision will be made based on the suspect’s emotional and psychological maturity and would affect the length of the sentence if he is found guilty.
Prosecutors have argued for adult criminal law to be applied and called for a life sentence.
During the trial, Al M. confessed to the crime, which he said had been motivated by his radicalisation and belief he was acting with a religious mission.
“My shame is too deep, I ask for forgiveness,” he told the court, according to his lawyer.
Prosecutors said Al M. had “internalised IS ideology, rejected the Western way of life, and was convinced that a holy war against infidels must be waged worldwide”.
He shouted “Allahu akbar”, or God is the greatest, after the attack, the court was told.
The suspect had travelled to Berlin from his home in the eastern city of Leipzig, motivated by his support for IS and “driven by the escalation of the Middle East conflict.”
Shortly before carrying out the attack, he allegedly sent a photo of himself to members of IS via a messaging service and offered his services as an IS member.
Al M. “wanted to kill”, prosecutor Michael Neuhaus told AFP on the sidelines of the trial.
“He had become radicalised in line with IS ideology…, believed he had a religious mission, wanted to send a message against liberal society and against Jews,” Neuhaus said.
Al M. was arrested when he returned to the scene of the attack with blood stains on his hands, carrying a copy of the Koran and a prayer rug.
The assault shocked Germany two days before the February 2025 general election, after a campaign centred heavily on immigration and security fuelled by a series of deadly stabbing and car ramming attacks carried out by migrants.
Germany is home to around a million Syrians — many of whom arrived during the huge influx of refugees that peaked in 2015 under former chancellor Angela Merkel.
Since the overthrow of president Bashar al-Assad in December, debate has grown heated around whether wartime refugees should return to Syria.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in particular has called for them to go home, highlighting a recent spate of high-profile violent crimes.
Germany’s conservative-led government in December deported a convicted criminal to Syria for the first time since 2011, following months of talks with Syria’s new government.
