Syrian jailed for stabbing man at Holocaust Memorial

A German court has convicted a Syrian man of stabbing and seriously wounding a Spanish tourist at Berlin's Holocaust Memorial just over a year ago, sentencing him to 13 years on prison.

The 20-year-old defendant, whom authorities have identified only as Wassim Al M in line with German privacy laws, was convicted on charges including attempted murder and attempted membership in a foreign terrorist organisation.

The Berlin district court found he travelled from Leipzig to Berlin on February 21, 2025 to carry out an attack in the name of the Islamic State group.

He chose the Holocaust Memorial because "he believed he would find people of Jewish faith there", presiding judge Doris Husch said on Thursday, and he stabbed the Spanish tourist in the throat before shouting "Allahu akbar" or "God is great".

The 31-year-old victim survived but is still unable to work and is receiving psychological treatment.

The defendant said during his trial he regretted the attack immediately, and asserted he had travelled to Berlin under pressure from an online acquaintance he had gotten to know as he watched IS videos.

The defendant arrived in Germany in 2023 as an unaccompanied minor and successfully applied for asylum, investigators have said.

He lived in Leipzig. He was arrested nearly three hours after the attack when he approached officers with blood on his hands and clothes.

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, a field of 2700 grey concrete slabs near the Brandenburg Gate in the heart of Berlin, honours the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust.

The attack occurred two days before a national election in which migration become a critical issue, pushed to the forefront by a string of deadly attacks involving immigrants in the months before the vote.