Syrian Asylum Seeker Arrested
Syrian asylum seeker arrested by French police after a man entered children’s playground with a knife, the attack leaving three in critical condition in Annecy, France.
Update 1330 BST: Youngest victim is 22 months old
More details emerging from local media in France citing police and investigation sources. The young victims, reports outlets including France’s CNews are a German citizen who is a 22-month-old boy who was flown to hospital in Geneva for emergency care, a two-year-old boy, a three-year-old girl, and a three-year-old girl with UK citizenship. A 70-year-old man was also stabbed in the neck.
As for the alleged perpetrator, Abdalmasih H. has residency as an asylum seeker in Sweden and is married to a Swedish citizen, but for reasons unknown also applied for asylum status in France in 2022. It is reported this application was rejected just last week because he was already awarded refugee status in Sweden. Liberation reports when the Syrian migrant filled out his application for asylum status, he claimed to be a Christian.
According to a report of Le Dauphine, the attacker is known to a park employee in Annecy, as he has been seen hanging around the area for the past two months. The local told the paper: “the guy comes to sit on a bench every day for two months, dressed in black, black backpack, dark glasses, bearded… He didn’t speak”.
