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Arrest Warrant Against a Suspected Member of the Foreign Terrorist Organisation ‘Islamic State’ on grounds of the knife attack in Solingen Obtained and Put into Effect

Arrest Warrant Against a Suspected Member of the Foreign Terrorist Organisation ‘Islamic State’ on grounds of the knife attack in Solingen Obtained and Put into Effect

Today (25 August 2024), the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office obtained an arrest warrant against

Syrian national Issa Al H.

from the Investigating Judge at the Federal Court of Justice.

Issa Al H. is strongly suspected of membership in a foreign terrorist organisation (section 129a para. 1 no. 1, section 129b para. 1 sentences 1 and 2 of the German Criminal Code [StGB]), three counts of murder (section 211 para. 2 StGB) as well as eight counts of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm (sections 211 para. 1, section 223 para. 1, section 224 para. 1 nos. 2 and 5, sections 22, 23 StGB).

In essence, the arrest warrant sets out the following allegations:

Issa Al H. adheres to the ideology of the foreign terrorist organisation ‘Islamic State’ and joined the organisation sometime before 23 August 2024. Guided by his radical Islamist ideology, he decided to kill as many alleged non-believers as possible at the Solingen city festival on 23 August 2024. Accordingly, he used a knife to stab festival-goers in their necks and torsos from behind. Three victims died and another eight sustained partially serious injuries.

The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office took over the proceedings from the Düsseldorf Attorney General’s Office early this morning (25 August 2024). The suspect had been apprehended and provisionally arrested last night (24 August 2024). He was brought before the Investigating Judge at the Federal Court of Justice today who issued an arrest warrant and ordered that the suspect be placed in pre-trial detention.

Incident Details

Type of Incident: Info
Date of Incident: August 25, 2025
City: Solingen
Country: Germany

About Sentinel

SENTINEL is a European project funded by the European Commission and led by the Security and Crisis Centre (SACC by EJC), the security arm of the European Jewish Congress. It brings together the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT), national-level Jewish communities from Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, and Spain, the European Union of Jewish Students, with the support of the Italian Carabinieri and the Police Presidium of the Czech Republic.

The project is designed to strengthen the protection of Jewish places of worship across the European Union through a coordinated set of activities over a three-year period.

SENTINEL will harness AI-enhanced open-source intelligence to monitor and assess current, emerging, and future threats. It will also equip Jewish communities with practical tools, including a mobile security application with a panic button and an interactive map built on real-time incident data.

Training and capacity-building are at the core of the project. These include scenario-based security exercises, crisis management seminars, and both in-person and online training sessions for community security trustees. SENTINEL will also organise EU-wide and local conferences to foster collaboration between Jewish communities, public authorities, and law enforcement agencies.

Complementing these efforts, national and local workshops will promote knowledge-sharing and preparedness, alongside pilot training programmes for law enforcement. A dedicated podcast series will help raise awareness by exploring threat assessments and potential responses.

With its wide-reaching and inclusive approach, SENTINEL will directly benefit to Jewish communities across 23 EU Member States, enhancing resilience, strengthening preparedness, and building long-term cooperation with law enforcement to meet today’s evolving security challenges.