Asylum-Seeker Goes on Trial in Germany over Knife Attack

Police investigators work at the crime scene after a knife attack in a supermarket in Hamburg, Germany, July 28, 2017. (Reuters)
Police investigators work at the crime scene after a knife attack in a supermarket in Hamburg, Germany, July 28, 2017. (Reuters)
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Asylum-Seeker Goes on Trial in Germany over Knife Attack

Police investigators work at the crime scene after a knife attack in a supermarket in Hamburg, Germany, July 28, 2017. (Reuters)
Police investigators work at the crime scene after a knife attack in a supermarket in Hamburg, Germany, July 28, 2017. (Reuters)

The trial of a Palestinian asylum-seeker, charged with killing a man with a knife in a supermarket, got underway in the German city of Hamburg on Friday.

Ahmad Alhaw, 26, risks life in prison. Hearings began after he was deemed psychologically fit for trial.

Investigators found no link between him and ISIS terror group. So he has gone on trial on murder and not terror-related charges.

Alhaw took a 20-centimeter knife from the shelves of a supermarket last July, using it to kill one and wound six in the assault. He was arrested after passers-by overpowered him.

The trial is expected to last until March 2, with the six wounded invited to the hearings only from January 26.

Germany has been on high alert over the threat of a militant assault since Tunisian Anis Amri drove a truck into crowds at a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016, killing 12 and injuring 48.

Like Amri, Alhaw was to have been deported after his asylum application was rejected by authorities at the end of 2016, but the process was held up by a lack of identity documents.

The attacks have piled pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel over her decision to allow in more than a million asylum seekers since 2015.



Germany Charges Syrian National in Connection with Taylor Swift Concert Plot

Singer Taylor Swift, left, takes in the third period in Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers in Sunrise, Fla., Thursday, June 12, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Singer Taylor Swift, left, takes in the third period in Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers in Sunrise, Fla., Thursday, June 12, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
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Germany Charges Syrian National in Connection with Taylor Swift Concert Plot

Singer Taylor Swift, left, takes in the third period in Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers in Sunrise, Fla., Thursday, June 12, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Singer Taylor Swift, left, takes in the third period in Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and the Florida Panthers in Sunrise, Fla., Thursday, June 12, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)

Germany has charged a Syrian national with supporting a foreign terrorist organization for helping to plan a foiled attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna last year, the prosecutor general said in a statement on Friday.

Identified as Mohammad A, the suspect helped the would-be attacker by translating Arabic bomb-building instructions and putting him in contact with a member of ISIS online, according to the charges against him.

Swift's three concerts in Vienna last August were cancelled after the government confirmed a planned attack at the stadium.

Police had been expecting around 65,000 attendees at each show, as well as up to 15,000 people outside the stadium without tickets, which fed security concerns.

The shows were to be part of the record-breaking Eras Tour by the American singer-songwriter.