Prosecutors have identified the Syrian man who allegedly killed three people at a festival in western Germany. He was remanded in pre-trial detention, accused of murder and links to the “Islamic State” group.
German prosecutors on Sunday released the name of the 26-year-old Syrian man suspected of a multiple stabbing attack in the western city of Solingen that killed three people and injured eight others.
Issa Al H., who was identified without his family name due to German privacy laws, was flown by helicopter to the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe for his first hearing.
Al H. was remanded in custody on suspicion of murder and membership of the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) group, among other charges, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office said.
IS claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack, saying it was in “revenge for Muslims in Palestine and elsewhere.” But the group did not provide evidence and it is not possible to verify the claim.
Earlier Sunday, police said the suspect had turned himself in and admitted responsibility for the attack. German news magazine Spiegel reported that the suspect came to Germany in 2022 as a refugee and applied for asylum in the city of Bielefeld.
According to Germany’s dpa news agency, the man’s asylum claim was denied and he was to have been deported last year. The agency cited no sources for its information.
Al H. came from a home for refugees in Solingen that was searched on Saturday, according to Herbert Reul, the interior minister of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, where Solingen is situated.
