STUTTGART: An Afghan man was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday for a stabbing spree in Germany last year that killed a police officer and left five people wounded.

The 26-year-old, only partially named as Sulaiman A. and found to be a supporter of the militant Islamic State group, committed the knife attack in May 2024 in the western city of Man­nheim.

The court convicted him of murder, attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm and judged his crimes to be especially grave, which virtually rules out early release.

Sulaiman A. used a large hunting knife in the attack which targeted a rally by Pax Europa, a group that campaigns against radical Islam.

He initially attacked a speaker and other demonstrators, then stabbed a police officer who rushed in to help before being shot and wounded by police himself. The critically wounded police officer, 29-year-old Rouven L., died two days later of his injuries.

Many Germans were especially shocked as a video of the attack circulating online showed the officer being repeatedly stabbed in the back of the head. Presiding Judge Herbert Anderer said that the attacker wanted to cause “the greatest possible harm in the form of as many deaths as possible”. He also wanted to kill police officers as representatives of the German state and planned to die a “martyr’s death” and “to enter paradise”, the judge said.

Sulaiman A. arrived in Germany in 2013 aged just 14, together with his brother but without their parents. They were denied asylum but, as unaccompanied minors, granted stays of deportation and permanent residency, and initially placed in care facilities, media reports said.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2025