At the Festival of Diversity in Solingen on August 23, 2024, a 27-year-old Syrian man stabbed several people, killing three and seriously injuring eight others.
The attack was one of several by migrants that put immigration in the spotlight before Germany’s election.
The Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court has announced its ruling on Thursday, September 10th, sentencing Issa Al Hasan to life imprisonment.
The suspect set out to harm “non-believers” at the festival because “he saw them as representatives of Western society,” said the prosecutors, adding he also wanted “to take revenge against them for the military actions of Western states.”
In a statement read out by Al Hasan’s lawyer, he admitted to having “committed a grave crime.”
“Three people died at my hands. I seriously injured others,” he said.
“Some of them survived only by luck. They could have died, too … I deserve and expect a life sentence.”
The Düsseldorf court said Issa Al Hasan, who had been radicalizing since 2019, was a member of ISIS and carried out the attack out of “treacherous and base motives,” claiming it was revenge for Gaza. Before the attack, he pledged allegiance to ISIS and recorded a confession video.
