Syrian, refugee, homeless, married to a Swedish citizen and father of a 3-year-old son. This is the sketch of Abdalmasih H., thirty years old, who attacked several people with a knife in Annecy, France, seriously injuring four children and an adult.
The man was unknown to the police, according to the prosecutor in the French town of Line Bonnet-Mathis, while the prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, denied that the attacker was responsible for the psychiatric services. Authorities announced that Abdalmasih H. received refugee status in Sweden, where he came in 2013. The man is married and has a three-year-old child.
Le Figaro newspaper cites the testimony of a Syrian refugee from Trollhättan, Sweden, who reported that Abdalmasih H. had moved to France seven months ago. The reasons that drove him to reach the transalpine country are not yet clear. According to testimonies collected immediately after the attack on the European gardens in Annecy, the man had been visiting the park for some time and said he had no home. In 2022 he had also applied for asylum with the French authorities, which had been rejected as the man had already been granted refugee status by an EU country, allowing him to move freely within the Union.
Abdalmasih H. was wearing a Christian cross around his neck when he was arrested, which was confirmed by the prosecution. A police source declared himself a “Syrian Christian” in his asylum application in France. In addition, according to a video compiled by AFP and Figaro, the refugee shouted “in the name of Jesus Christ” twice in English while attacking the children.
The resulting profile therefore appears to be more of a man suffering from serious psychiatric disorders. Annecy prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis has eliminated the terror matrix for the time being: “As always,” an “assessment” is underway, he said. “At this time, we have nothing that could lead us to believe that the motives were terrorists,” she told reporters.
Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
