Many Muslims condemn the attack in Mannheim, in which a police officer died, and have expressed their views accordingly. But there are also those who glorify the act and celebrate it on the Internet – sometimes more, sometimes less clearly.
“I will not criticize this brother,” wrote Shabir, as the man from Hamburg who is apparently of Afghan descent calls himself, on Instagram the day after the Mannheim attack. “Well done, brother.” Several Islamists shared his post.
Shabir’s views are clear. In his profile photo he is wearing a T-shirt with the banned flag of the terrorist organization “Islamic State”. According to “Bild”, he is also a confidant of the Islamist Joe “Raheem” Boateng and recently demonstrated with his group “Muslim Interaktiv” for a caliphate. He also distributed flyers for the group in front of a Hamburg mosque.
She did not want to say whether the Hamburg public prosecutor’s office was investigating him. Shabir is not the only one who glorifies the Mannheim massacre. A man who calls himself Said_slm on Instagram reported shortly after the attack on the Islam-critical journalist Michael Stürzenberger that he was not dismayed. Two days later he wrote: “Muslim parents in Germany and (…) Mannheim should be proud to name their sons Sulaiman.”
Said_slm also justified the Mannheim attack on the Internet. “Muslims must now understand who is a friend and who is an enemy. If a popular Islam hater spreads his hatred and someone gives him the platform to do so and even protects him, then the protector is part of the problem,” he writes on Instagram. What he writes about a photo of the murdered police officer Rouven L. is even more violent: “Rest in Jahannam” – in German “Rest in Hell”. According to “Bild”, he too demonstrated for a caliphate with “Muslim Interkativ”.
MMA fighter Hamed Faizi, who is also a real estate entrepreneur in Monheim am Rhein, was less vehement, but still had a clear intention. “Why should we distance ourselves from the knife attack on the Islam hater Michael Stürzenberger?” he asked on Instagram the next day, adding that he was not doing so. In the video reported by “Bild”, he criticizes Muslims who distance themselves even though they were not there, and criticizes the federal government for allowing Stürzenberger to perform even though he mocks Islam.
He comments on the attack with a grin. “I call it karma. I don’t distance myself from anything because I had nothing to do with it,” Faizi says in the video. “Whether the man deserved it or not is something everyone has to decide for themselves. I have my own opinion on the matter. I don’t want to reveal it. But shame on every single person who distances themselves from this act!”
The video is no longer available on Instagram. The police in the Mettmann district have also not commented on whether they are investigating Faizi.