Magdeburg, Germany: After a car rammed into a busy outdoor Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg on Friday, killing at least four people and severely injuring over 40, there has been a sudden spurt of Islamophobic remarks when the driver’s name and origin became public.

Soon after the incident, authorities suspected it as an attack, and the media houses began beating the drums, calling the attacker an Islamic extremist. Notably, the attacker, Taleb A, who was under the influence of drugs, is an ex-Muslim, a Saudi Arabian fugitive and atheist. The accused has been working in Germany since 2006 as a doctor, who had in an earlier interview described himself as the most aggressive critic of Islam.

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There are several X posts quoting UAE and Saudi handles saying that the perpetrator of the Christmas market attack is a fugitive from Saudi Arabia, whom the German government refused to extradite despite requests from the Gulf country. Sharing a journalist’s post on the background of the attacker, US billionaire Elon Musk wrote, “Whoever refused to extradite a murderer deserves to be punished severely,”

Wow, this is insane.

Whoever refused to extradite a murderer deserves to be punished severely! https://t.co/wnqwhYVdw0

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2024

One of the user had pointed out that the perpetrator of the Germany attack was a well-known fugitive traitor who fled from Saudi Arabia, where he is a wanted individual. The arabic user added that the man was granted asylum and citizenship by Germany, which refused to extradite him to Riyadh under the pretext of human rights and freedom of expression. “He repaid this favor today by committing a massacre,” reads the rough translation of an Arabic post.

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A psychiatry specialist, the attacker has a permanent residence permit. The German police officials have, however, stated the man acted as a lone attacker and believe there is no ongoing threat to public safety after his arrest. Journalist Sreejith Divakaran slammed collective abusive comments hurled at Muslim community both in Indian and the US by the right wing groups on the backdrop of the tragedy in Germany. In a Facebook post, Divakaran wrote, after reaching to Germany, the doctor backed a right wing party in Germany. “From Sanghis in India to the hardcore Sanghi of US, Elon Musk, the moment they heard Saudi came out saying Muslim terrorism, They will kill someone on their own and then argue that it was because there are Muslims in the neighborhood,” the journalist wrote.