A 27-year-old Syrian Islamist was sentenced to life for murder and attempted murder in Germany on Tuesday over two stabbing attacks earlier this year in the western city of Duisburg.
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The defendant, named only as Maan D., was a supporter of the Islamic State group and admitted his crimes, the court in Duesseldorf said in a statement.

He was “still determined to kill those he sees as ‘infidels'”, added the court.

Maan D., who arrived in Germany as a refugee during the 2015 influx, attacked a man at random in Duisburg on April 9, stabbing him at least 28 times in the abdomen, head and neck with a kitchen knife.

The 35-year-old victim, who had been partying on a street with friends, died later the same day.

Less than two weeks later, Maan D. stormed a gym in Duisburg, where he attacked three men in the locker room and shower area with the same knife, leaving them with life-threatening wounds in their upper bodies. He then also inflicted two stab wounds to the thigh of a first aider.

The court classed the crimes as particularly grievous and ordered Maan D. held in in preventive detention beyond the 15 years usually served in Germany under a life sentence.

It found that he had been “radicalised since 2020 by militant-jihadist ideology of the Islamic State (IS) terror organisation on the internet” and saw all who didn’t share his views as “infidels.”

– ‘Still dangerous’ –
“Hence he decided — without directly belonging to IS or any other terror organisation, to kill randomly selected male residents of the federal republic,” the court said.
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Islamist extremists have committed several violent attacks in Germany in recent years, the deadliest being a truck rampage at a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016 that killed 12 people.

More recently, a Syrian jihadist was given a life sentence in May 2021 for stabbing a German man to death and severely wounding his partner in a homophobic attack in the eastern city of Dresden.

Another suspected jihadist was arrested at his home in Duisburg in October for allegedly planning an attack, with a pro-Israel demonstration as a possible target.

The number of people on the Islamist extremist spectrum in Germany fell from 28,290 in 2021 to 27,480 in 2022, according to a report from the BfV domestic intelligence agency.

However, on presenting the report in June, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said Islamist extremism “remains dangerous”.
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