Confession Video After Attack on Berlin CSD Confirmed – Debate Over Handling of Islamist Suspects

According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, a video was found on the suspect's mobile phone in which he confesses in Arabic to the attack in Berlin's Tiergarten and pledges allegiance to the terrorist organization "Islamic State" (IS). A spokesperson for the Federal Prosecutor's Office confirmed corresponding reports from the "Bild" newspaper. According to reports, the video was said to have been recorded on the day of the attack. According to "Bild," the video was recorded on July 25 – the day of the attack. Whether the person in the video is definitively Abdul B. initially remained unclear.

Confession Video and Investigation Status

The 21-year-old German with Lebanese roots had been classified by security authorities as an Islamist dangerous person and, according to research by WDR, NDR, and Süddeutsche Zeitung, had even been classified as a "high-risk person" by the BKA analysis tool "RADAR-iTE." According to Der Spiegel, Abdul B. was monitored for weeks; investigators tapped his phone and filmed his home. Nevertheless, the attack could not be prevented. According to police, the driver exited the car and fled. On Sunday evening, the suspect was then shot by SEK officers in a small garden allotment in Berlin-Spandau during a police operation. According to police, he died at the scene despite immediate resuscitation measures initiated by the Berlin Fire Department. Prior to this, the 21-year-old is said to have run at the officers with a stabbing weapon.

As early as May, the juvenile court at the Tiergarten district court had sentenced Abdul B. to a juvenile sentence of one year and ten months for preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state and violations of the associations law. The sentence was suspended as a so-called "probationary suspension," with the final ruling on probation not due for another six months. However, the Berlin General Prosecutor's Office had filed an appeal, meaning the verdict was not final. The Berlin General Prosecutor's Office also stated that Abdul B. had repeatedly attempted in vain in recent months to travel toward Syria, Turkey, or Lebanon to join IS.

Background of the Suspect

According to research by WDR, NDR, and Süddeutsche Zeitung, the alleged CSD attacker Abdul B. had been classified as a dangerous person and had even been assessed as a "high-risk person" by a BKA analysis tool. Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) had previously announced a three-point security package in the "Bild" newspaper: identified dangerous persons should be able to be taken into preventive detention, must wear an ankle monitor for surveillance, and should not be treated under juvenile criminal law. "Preventive detention for dangerous persons is something that is, in my view, absolutely necessary," said Dobrindt. He announced the measures on Tuesday on the sidelines of the CSU state group's summer retreat in the Franconian Kloster Banz. "We need rules that ensure that dangerous persons are not treated under juvenile criminal law and certainly not released on probation."

The CSU wants to consult with coalition partner SPD about the use of electronic ankle monitors for dangerous persons. The Parliamentary Managing Director of the CSU state group in the Bundestag, Alexander Hoffmann, said on Deutschlandfunk: "I believe that, in light of these events, we can certainly talk in the short term about the topic of ankle monitors." However, the entire factual situation surrounding the Berlin attack must first be processed. Both CDU and SPD are also advocating for nationwide uniform regulations on preventive detention. Baden-Württemberg's Interior Minister Manuel Hagel (CDU) called for a significantly tougher approach against Islamists and dangerous persons: "We must move beyond naivety," said the 38-year-old. "We need to tighten the reins." SPD interior expert Sebastian Fiedler called the ankle monitor "a sensible addition to the toolkit."

Political Reactions and Security Package

Critics, however, point to the limits of such measures. Tübingen criminologist Jörg Kinzig said: "If a person is wildly determined to commit a crime, then one must be honest: the mere ankle monitor will probably not deter them." Ankle monitors are also a severe intrusion into the fundamental rights of those affected and must therefore be carefully reviewed by courts. According to a report in the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung," only 147 people nationwide were wearing electronic ankle monitors at the end of June. Longer-term preventive detention is not provided for under the BKA Act, but only very short-term measures.

The Central Council of Muslims in Germany sharply condemned the attack in a statement released in Cologne. "Where people become targets of violence because of their identity or their way of life, the fundamental values of our coexistence are attacked," the association declared. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and all people who had to witness this terrible act." Eren Güvercin of the Alhambra Society, meanwhile, criticized that the press release of the Coordination Council of Muslims had not mentioned the perpetrator's motive in a single word. "This is specifically about an Islamist-motivated attack on queer people," said Güvercin. Homophobia and queer hostility are a reality in Muslim communities and must be called by name.

Debate on Prevention and Suspect Management

Baden-Württemberg's Minister-President Cem Özdemir (Greens) also criticized the reaction of Islamic umbrella organizations to the attack. "It must be clear that this is a homophobic, queer-hostile attack," he said on Tuesday in Stuttgart. "If you avoid the word, you obviously have a problem." If homophobia is not addressed, it makes it easier for perpetrators "to recruit people from there." He called on Muslim associations to engage more strongly with the issue of homophobia. "The topic of Islamism must simply be mentioned," said Özdemir. "There can be no cultural discount here."

Terrorism expert Rolf Tophven spoke of a "fatal mistake" by the judiciary. The Federal Prosecutor's Office, as Germany's highest prosecution authority, is responsible, among other things, for cases of Islamist-motivated terrorism and had taken over the investigations into the suspected terrorist attack on Sunday evening. The Federal Prosecutor General announced the results on Tuesday in Karlsruhe.

Reactions from Religious Communities

In Germany, Islamism experts reject a blanket reversal of perpetrator and victim. Eren Güvercin pointed out that the majority of key actors in the Islamist scene in Germany were born and raised there. At the same time, perpetrators are getting younger and younger. The exit organization Derad in Vienna also says it supports 200 dangerous persons in the judicial sector. In North Rhine-Westphalia, dangerous persons have been monitored with ankle monitors since 2021 using the so-called Spanish model.

Parallel to the political debate, investigations continued. With the help of mantrailer dogs, investigators reconstructed, according to BILD, the alleged escape route from the Großer Tiergarten past the Brandenburg Gate to Friedrichstraße station. In the crime vehicle, investigators found the sheath of a machete; the corresponding blade has so far disappeared. Investigators assume that the perpetrator may have disposed of it during his flight. "A similar procedure was already used in the attack on the Berlin Christmas market in December 2016, when the terrorist Anis Amri recorded an IS confession video before his truck attack," according to a dpa report.

Conspiracy Narratives and Societal Debate

Meanwhile, numerous conspiracy narratives spread on social networks. The Salafist influencer Hanna Hansen wrote on X: "Inside Job? CSD . . . elections are coming soon." The Left Party-affiliated influencer Dara Marc Sasmaz also wondered: "Of course, quite by chance, this happens almost exactly three months before the state elections in Berlin." The article states in this regard: "«Cui bono?» – 'Who benefits?' – is not for nothing the mantra of all conspiracy theorists." Of course, there is no evidence for this.

Meanwhile, experts are also discussing the role of prevention and deradicalization programs. According to media reports, Abdul B. had participated in two preliminary discussions in a Berlin deradicalization program; a third conversation was planned shortly. Thomas Mücke, Managing Director of the Violence Prevention Network, however, said that his staff had not had the feeling with Abdul B. that he really wanted to leave the Islamist scene and would probably not have accepted him. The North Rhine-Westphalian exit program on Islamism (API) has, according to its own information, worked with a multi-year support process since 2014. An exit program counselor said: "Social media acts as a radicalization amplifier, and that just much faster." "What would the alternative be if these programs didn't exist? Many who are eventually released from prison after a conviction need such programs