A supposedly well-integrated refugee from Afghanistan becomes the perpetrator of a fatal knife attack. The case of Sulaiman A. shocked Germany. How could this happen? A look at the perpetrator’s file.
The knife attack on May 31, 2024 caused great horror throughout Germany: On that day, Sulaiman A., a 25-year-old refugee from Afghanistan, attacked the well-known Islam critic Michael Stürzenberger in Mannheim. A young police officer was also killed in the operation. But how could this have happened?
According to research by “Welt”, information from official documents shows that Sulaiman A. came to Germany from Afghanistan with his brother in March 2013 and was initially registered in Frankfurt am Main. He later moved to the Bergstrasse district north of Mannheim.
In the video: Deportation of Sulaiman A. to Afghanistan demanded
At first, the 25-year-old was considered well integrated: he attended language courses and tried to get a job. According to “Spiegel”, he also volunteered to help refugees in the Bergstrasse district and was seen by his carers as a role model for successful integration.
At the beginning of 2019, A. married a woman with a German passport and had two children, who are now two and three years old. Through the marriage, he secured the right to stay in Germany.
A source told Bild that his “integration was considered satisfactory” and that he had not even been caught committing “minor” crimes.
Neighbors described A. to FOCUS Online as initially friendly and helpful. However, in the past six to twelve months his behavior has changed: “He became more withdrawn, a bit more aggressive,” said one neighbor.
However, according to the report by “Welt”, signs of his ideology may have been discovered on the Internet. It is reported that an account exists on YouTube that was recently reactivated. The profile owner is called Sulaiman A.
Most recently, videos of the Afghan preacher Ahmad Zahir Aslamiyar were uploaded there. He is said to have once been a commander of the Taliban and is believed to have since died. Islamist circles honor him as a martyr. In one of these videos, Aslamiyar is said to have called for war against the West.
The Karlsruhe public prosecutor’s office had no information on this on Monday morning, according to “Welt”. Electronic data storage devices were seized in A.’s apartment and are now being evaluated. If an Islamist motive is confirmed, the Federal Prosecutor General could take over the investigation.
The exact background and motives behind the crime are still unclear. Police and security authorities are continuing to investigate in order to understand the full extent of A.’s connections and radicalization. One thing is certain: Mannheim society is shaken and is looking for answers to this tragic escalation of violence.