Saudis say warnings about market attack suspect were ignored

The Saudi authorities, I am told, are currently working hard to coordinate everything they have on the market of Magdeburg, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, and share it with the ongoing investigation of Germany “in any way”.

Inside the imposing sandstone walls and fortress-like Saudi Foreign Ministry in Riyadh there is a clear sense of pique.

The ministry had previously warned the German government about al-Abdulmohsen’s extremist views.

It sent four so-called “Notes Verbal”, three of them to German law enforcement agencies and one to the foreign ministry in Berlin. There was, the Saudis say, no answer.

One of the explanations for this could be that Taleb al-Abdulmohsen he was granted asylum by Germany in 2016, a year later Former Chancellor Angela Merkel opened her country’s borders importing more than a million people from the Middle East, and 10 years after al-Abdulmohsen settled in Germany.

Coming from a country where Islam is the only religion allowed to be practiced in public, al-Abdulmohsen was a very unusual citizen.

He had deviated from Islam, making himself an apostate in front of many people.

Born in the Saudi palm oasis town of Hofuf in 1974, little is known about his childhood before he decided to leave Saudi Arabia for Europe at the age of 32.

A social media worker, on his Twitter account (later X) calls himself a psychiatrist and the founder of a Saudi freedom movement, and the tag @SaudiExMuslims.

She launched a website aimed at helping Saudi women flee their country to Europe.

The Saudis are said to have been human traffickers and Interior Ministry investigators, the Baatheth, say they have an extensive file.

There have been reports in recent years of dissident Saudis coming under the scrutiny of Saudi government officials, in Canada, the US and Germany.

There is no doubt that the German authorities, both public and private, have made serious mistakes in letting go of the al-Abdulmohsen case.

Whatever their reasons for resisting, as the Saudis say, to repeated warnings about extremism, they appear to be a threat to their host country.

There is also, separately, the failure to close, or guard, the emergency entrance to the Magdeburg Alter Markt that allows him to drive his BMW in public.

German officials said he defended the market structure and said investigations into the suspect’s past are ongoing.

But the problem here is that Saudi Arabia, despite being known as a friend and ally of the West, has a terrible human rights record.

Until June 2018 Saudi women were banned from driving and even women who publicly asked for the ban to be lifted at that time have been tortured and imprisoned.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is still in his 30s, is very popular in his country.

While Western leaders distanced themselves from him after he was involved in atrocities The killing of Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. The killing of Jamal Khashoggi inwhich the crown prince refuses, in his house the star is still in the sky.

Under his de-facto rule, public life in Saudi has changed for the better, men and women are allowed to interact freely, and the reopening of cinemas, along with big, exciting sports and entertainment events, even gigs by Western artists like David Guetta and Black-eyed cabbie.

But there is a paradox here.

While public life in Saudi Arabia has grown there has been a simultaneous crackdown on any hint of political or religious freedom.

A prison sentence of 10 years or more has been handed down for simple tweets.

No one is allowed to even question the way the world is run.

Based on this, Germany seem to have dropped the ball with Taleb al-Abdulmohsen.