Did a Saudi Arabian immigrant suspected of driving his car into shoppers at a German Christmas market say "Allahu akbar" during a video of his arrest? No, that's not true: Lead Stories reviewed the full 52-second video of a German law enforcement officer placing the suspect under arrest. On the video, the suspect quietly repeats the word "okay" in response to the officer's instructions. There is no evidence the suspect said "Allahu akbar," an Arabic phrase that means "God is most great."
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X December 22, 2024. It included a seven-second portion of a cell phone video showing a German law enforcement officer and others yelling as the Christmas market attack suspect lay on the ground. The caption read:
Legacy Media:- "he was an anti-Islamist"
Terrorist:- "Allahu Akbar"
Here is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Mon Dec 23 13:45:24 2024 UTC)
On December 20, 2024, a man drove his car into a Christmas market packed with pedestrians in the German town of Magdeburg, according to a news conference held on December 21, 2024. Magdeburg city official Ronni Krug (archived here) said at the 1:34-mark of the conference video that the incident led to the deaths of five people, including a nine-year-old child. Another 200 were injured, 41 severely.
German government officials would not name the suspect, but the Associated Press quoted German news media who reported he was a doctor from Saudi Arabia who had immigrated to Germany nearly two decades earlier (archived here).
The post on X included a seven-second clip showing a law enforcement officer holding the suspect at gunpoint. The suspect's face is blurred, making it difficult to tell who is speaking. However, no one says the words "Allahu akbar," which is Arabic for "God is most great."
Lead Stories translated into English the German words spoken on the seven-second clip:
:01 Officer: Don't move!
:02 Unidentified voice: A terrorist.
:05 Unidentified voice: Calm down.
On December 21, 2024, the New York Post released a 52-second version of the same video showing the suspect's arrest. In this longer version, the video is not blurred, making it easier to see when the suspect speaks:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Mon Dec 23 18:08:42 2024 UTC)
(Source: YouTube screenshot taken on Mon Dec 23 18:08:25 2024 UTC)
Lead Stories also translated the longer video. The suspect can be seen speaking three times, each time saying "Okay" to the officer's instructions:
:01 Lie down! Lie down!
:05 Hands on your back!
:08 Hands!
:11 You stay lying down!
:13 You stay lying down!
:14 (Suspect) Okay.
:15 Don't move!
:16 A terrorist
:17 Calm down
:18 indecipherable
:22 You stay lying down!
:23 (Suspect) Okay.
:25 You stay lying down!
:25 (Suspect) Okay.
:28 Don't move!
:29 Stay down
:34 Stay down
:39 I have him!
:42 Careful! Careful! Careful! Careful!
:50 indecipherable
For more Lead Stories fact checks on claims involving terrorism, click here.
