H. traveled to Germany at the end of December 2022 and shortly thereafter applied for asylum at the Bielefeld branch of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). His application was rejected, while the so-called Dublin rules of the European asylum system require this application to be submitted in the country of entry into the European Union, which in this person’s case was Bulgaria. The German authorities submitted a request for admission: The Bulgarians agreed and the Syrian would be transferred there.
However, the attempt to deport him failed in June 2023. The authorities could not find H. in his refugee accommodation in a former barracks in Paderborn. He had escaped and nothing was done to locate him. within the two months established by law for their expulsion. In August, H. came out of hiding and applied for subsidiary protection, which refugees from the country in civil war usually receive. The German authorities granted him this and with it a place in a reception centre in Solingen.
He had been living there since September last year. By then, terrorism experts suspect, this Syrian had already sworn to membership in the Islamic State (IS) and had probably received military training in one of the camps of this Islamic terrorist organization in Syria. Apparently, the way he handled the knives during the attack, directly to the neck, quickly and very preciselyshow that he is a professional. Issa al H., born in the Syrian city of Deir al Sor and a Sun Muslim, was not known to security authorities as an Islamic extremist.
The fact that he turned himself in to the police after 19 hours of searching It also attracted attention. For the ISIS propaganda apparatus, which claimed responsibility for the attack at the same time the Syrian declared his affiliation, the delivery of this “soldier-hrore” extends its propaganda capacity in time.
H. was transferred this Sunday by helicopter to Karlsruhe, headquarters of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, the body responsible for terrorist crimes in Germany. The alleged attacker, who turned himself in to the police on Saturday evening, is being investigated for, among other things, «murder, attempted murder and suspicion of integration into a foreign terrorist organization.» He will be at the disposal of the investigating judge for the entire day.
The Syrian turned himself in to the authorities last night and was arrested after identifying himself as the person responsible for the attack, which took place during a concert in a square in the center of Solingen. According to police sources quoted by major German media, the suspect climbed into a patrol car with bloodstained clothing and told officers: «I’m the one you’re looking for.»
The alleged attacker, who until now He was not known to have Islamist tendencies.on Friday he stabbed several people at random — three of whom died instantly and four were critical — and then fled amid the chaos. ISIS said in a statement Saturday afternoon that the attacker was one of its «soldiers» and that he had attacked «groups of Christians» to avenge «Muslims in Palestine and elsewhere.»