Invasion of Europe news….
He was a failed asylum seeker who said he understood the Koran and therefore needed to go out and kill Christians.
From AFP via Malay Mail Online:
HAMBURG, March 1 — A Palestinian jihadist who killed one man and wounded six other people in a German supermarket knife rampage last year was sentenced today to life in prison.
Ahmad Alhaw, 27, had admitted to the murder and assaults in the river port city of Hamburg.
In delivering the sentence, the judge noted the “particular severity” of the crime, lowering Alhaw’s chances of obtaining early release on parole.
Prosecutors had said the attack stemmed from a “radical Islamist” motive, charging that the man had hoped “he would die as a martyr”.
His aim was to kill as many German Christians as possible to avenge the suffering of Muslims worldwide, they said.
[….]
The defendant entered a supermarket on July 28 last year, snatched a 20-centimetre (eight-inch) knife from the shelves, unwrapped it and fatally stabbed a 50-year-old man.
As panic broke out, he slashed and stabbed at others inside and then outside the shop, shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest), and also wounding a 50-year-old woman and four men.
[….]
The Islamist attack was Germany’s first since December 2016 when Tunisian Anis Amri ploughed a stolen truck through a Berlin Christmas market in an attack that claimed 12 lives.
The knife rampage led to charges that security services had been too complacent in keeping an eye on Alhaw despite multiple warnings that he was radicalising.
It also fuelled growing xenophobia against Muslim migrants after the mass influx of more than one million asylum seekers since mid-2015.
Witnesses told the court they had seen the failed asylum seeker self-radicalise in the lead-up to the attack.
[….]
….Alhaw, who had watched IS propaganda videos online, grew deeply religious and increasingly distrustful of state authorities.
By 2016 he thought that he suddenly understood the Koran completely, rejected all previous temptations, and started looking at all other people as either true believers or non-believers, the psychiatrist said.
More here.
For my complete ‘Invasion of Europe’ archive go here. My Germany files are here.