A German court on Wednesday convicted the suspect in last year’s knife attack at a festival in Solingen of three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and membership in the Islamic State group, and sentenced him to life in prison.
The state court in Düsseldorf found the 27-year-old Syrian, identified under German privacy rules as Issa Al H., guilty of the charges arising from the Aug. 23, 2024, attack at a “Festival of Diversity” celebrating the 650th anniversary of the western German city. Judge Winfried van der Grinten said the defendant carried “particularly serious” guilt, a legal finding that typically removes the possibility of release after 15 years that can apply in German life sentences.
Prosecutors said three people were killed in the attack and several others were wounded. The defendant was arrested a day after the stabbings and remained in custody during the proceedings. When the trial opened in late May, lawyers read a statement in which the defendant accepted responsibility, saying, "I brought severe guilt upon myself" and adding, "I killed innocent people, not infidels."
The court also found that the defendant had been "massively" radicalized since 2019 and had used a social media profile on the platform TikTok to spread Islamic State propaganda, the judge said. The membership conviction reflected prosecutors' contention that the defendant had adopted the extremist group’s ideology and acted in alignment with it.
Authorities said the defendant had been scheduled for deportation to Bulgaria in 2023 but reportedly disappeared for a period and avoided expulsion. That detail was highlighted during the trial and by public officials as an example of difficulties in enforcing EU rules that require rejected asylum-seekers to be returned to the first EU country where they entered.
The Solingen stabbing was among a series of deadly attacks in the months before Germany’s national election in February that involved immigrant suspects and fueled political debate over migration and asylum policy. Those incidents intensified scrutiny of the country’s ability to identify and remove individuals considered a security risk.
Under German law, life sentences are indeterminate, but prisoners are normally eligible to apply for parole after 15 years. The court’s determination of particularly serious guilt generally means that such early release is unlikely. The sentence is subject to standard appellate procedures, and further legal steps were not announced immediately following the verdict.
The conviction closes a high-profile case that prompted national debate on radicalization, border controls and deportation practices, while bringing formal legal resolution to an attack that left a community in mourning and prompted broader policy discussions at the national level.