A Saudi physician has been given a life sentence for crashing a rented BMW into a Christmas market in Germany, resulting in the deaths of six individuals.

Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, aged 51, faced trial at the state court in November following the incident on December 20, 2024, in the German city of Magdeburg. The attack claimed the lives of five women and a young boy, while many others sustained injuries.

The assault, executed using a rented BMW X3, lasted slightly over a minute and involved speeds of up to 30mph during the violent episode. The 51-year-old was deemed by the court to bear “particularly serious” responsibility, as per reports from the German news agency dpa.

His sentence implies he will not be eligible for parole after the standard 15-year period in Germany. Investigators confirmed that al-Abdulmohsen was sober at the time of the incident.

Authorities revealed that his actions seemed to stem from dissatisfaction with the outcome of a legal dispute and the failure of several criminal complaints. The defendant orchestrated the attack without any collaborators.

Officials noted that the suspect did not match the typical profile of extremist attackers. He identified himself as a former Muslim critical of Islam, expressing support for far-right views on social media.

Although there was no prior record of violent behavior by al-Abdulmohsen, he had come to the attention of authorities for making threats in the past. The Magdeburg incident was part of a series of assaults involving immigrants that brought migration to the forefront of Germany’s national election campaign in February 2025.

The defendant arrived in Germany in 2006 and had been granted permanent residency.