By Anadolu staff
BERLIN (AA) - A member of the ISIS (Daesh) terrorist group was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for killing three people and wounding 10 others in a knife attack in the western German city of Solingen last year.
The Dusseldorf Higher Regional Court sentenced the 27-year-old Syrian citizen to the maximum possible sentence, establishing the "exceptional severity of the crimes," which bars the possibility of parole before 15 years.
Issa al Hasan, who arrived in Germany in 2022 and had his asylum application rejected, had admitted guilt during previous hearings. "I have taken on a heavy burden of guilt. I am ready to accept the verdict," he stated in May. "I killed innocent people, not unbelievers."
Prosecutors charged him with triple murder, attempted murder of 10 people, and membership in the ISIS terrorist group among other offenses. In the indictment, they said that Issa al Hasan attacked the festival-goers in Solingen in August 2024, because he viewed them as "representatives of Western society."
According to Bild daily, Issa al Hasan's psychiatric assessment revealed no signs of a mental disorder, though he has below-average intelligence with an IQ of 71. Throughout the trial hearings, he mostly sat with his head lowered. When the judge asked him why, "I feel guilty, that's why I lower my head,” he said.
The Solingen attack put the government under pressure last year after media reports revealed a series of failures by authorities. Issa al Hasan should have been deported a year before the attack. Immigration authority employees knocked on his door at the refugee accommodation in June 2023, but the Syrian was not there at that time.
No further deportation attempts were made.