France: Three Women Stabbed in Paris: Suspect Says He Was "Commanded by Allah"

-Francois deSouche

Today, in Paris, a 31-year-old man, as yet unidentified, went on a stabbing spree with two knives, stabbing three women, two seriously. He was eventually subdued by an off-duty police officer with the help of responding units and bystanders. The suspect reportedly stated during his apprehension that, "Allah commanded me".

Le Figaro has also reported that one of the citizens who helped subdue the suspect was a salesman named Mohammed, who is a black belt in martial arts.

The article below from Il Figaro is translated by Fousesquawk. In addition, the article contains a video of the attack and arrest (viewer warning), to which we are in the process of adding English subtitles. 

Paris: Three injured in a knife attack, a suspect arrested

-By Ambre LePoivre and Rozenn Morga

-12 minutes ago

The man was quickly subdued. He seems to fit the profile of psychologically unbalanced and made incoherent remarks at the moment of his arrest.

"I saw a young girl lying on the floor in the bar, she was covered in blood." The witness of the scene, accompanied by her grandson, is still in shock as she recounts to Le Figaro the attempted murder she has just witnessed. Around 11:30 on Monday, a man dressed in light colored clothing and armed with two knives, attacked women between the Les Deux Coupoles Brewery and the Porte de Clichy tram stop in NW Paris, Le Figaro has learned from corroborating sources.

The victims, ages 19, 24, and 36, "were treated by emergency services and transported to a hospital," indicated the police prefecture of Paris. Two of them, struck in the lower back and abdomen, are currently in critical condition; the third is in stable condition, but none are in life-threatening condition. One of the women is pregnant, according to the mayor of the 17th arrondissement, Geoffroy Boulard. 

"Psychologically unbalanced" profile

The 31-year-old man was spotted by an off-duty police officer as he was jogging around the tram station with two knives in his hands. The officer immediately called for reinforcements and followed the suspect, finally stopping him with the help of a police team. "Immense respect for our off-duty colleague who intervened with cool-headedness to neutralize the attacker and avoid an even more tragic outcome," the police union, Alliance, reacted on X.

In a video posted on social media, the man, with medium-length black hair, appeared held down on the ground by people, seemed somewhat disoriented, and quietly stated: "It was Allah who commanded me".  According to one source close to the case, the individual, born in Lilas, in Seine-Saint-Denis, fits the profile of "psychologically unbalanced". The Minister of Interior, Laurent Nunez, said he remained "very cautious as to the motive of this violent act," committed by a man "making incoherent remarks". The suspect gave an identity to the authorities, which has yet to be verified. He remains in custody. 

The First District of the Paris Judicial Police is in charge of the investigation for "aggravated attempted homicide" in order to understand, in particular, what lies behind this act. The national Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office indicates to us that they "are following the procedure of the Paris Prosecutor's Office."

Germany: Police Shoot and Kill Suspected Berlin Terrorist

The scene where Abdul Rahman Ballout was shot and killed by police

-NIUS

As we reported in an earlier update, the man suspected of driving the van that plowed into a gay pride event in Berlin yesterday has been located and shot to death by Berlin police.

Abdul Rahman Ballout (21), born in Germany in 2005 to a Lebanese mother, was hiding in a garden area of the Berlin suburb of Spandau. Police surrounded the plot and shot Ballout when he reportedly charged at them with a knife or other bladed weapon.

The gardens described in the article below are small garden plots that people who do not have gardens can rent and plant whatever they want.

The article below from NIUS is translated by Fousesquawk.

Raid on Berlin garden shed! Police shoot attacker Abdul Rahman Ballout

26 July 2026  at 10:55

After the Islamist terror attack at the edge of the Christopher Street Days (CSD) in Berlin, the suspect Abdul Rahman Ballout was killed by police. That is confirmed by the Senate Interior Administration. The garden shed in which Ballout was shot reportedly belongs to his father.

Special forces surrounded a garden plot before they moved in, according to the above information. According to BILD's information, Ballout reportedly came at the forces with a bladed weapon. The police then opened fire. The 21-year-old was hit and died from his injuries at 18:34.

Witnesses told BILD that during the raid on the Berlin garden shed, they heard 2 salvos of 4 shots each, a few minutes apart. Other witnesses reported to the newspaper that the police forces surrounded the small garden allotment around 3 pm and closed off the area. Around 6 pm, the raid took place.

According to Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU), a woman (29) was killed and 29 people were injured in the attack on Saturday by car followed by a machete. According to police in the afternoon, they are no longer in life-threatening condition.

Public manhunt

In the morning, the police had released a photo, with which they were searching for the 21-year-old Abdul Rahman Ballout. The alleged perpetrator, according to security authorities, had been radicalized and was part of the Islamist scene, as Dobrindt said. The man had already come to the notice (of police). Dobrindt mentioned a "large number of crimes" and the "Islamist radicalization" of the 21-year-old. 

In the past year, Abdul Rahman Ballout tried several times to join the terror militia, Islamic State (IS).

In the past, the accused reportedly was sentenced to 1 year and 10 months of probation, the interior minister said. The state prosecutor's office appealed that. In the proceeding, according to the State Prosecutor's office, Ballout had largely confessed and distanced himself from IS. 

Germany: Islamist Terror Attack at Gay Pride Event in Berlin

Abdul Rahman Ballout

The suspect

-Bild

The vehicle

-Welt

*Update (July 26): German media has reported that Ballout has been shot dead by Berlin police in the suburb of Spandau as he charged them with a bladed weapon.

On the evening of July 25, a massive gay pride parade, an annual event, was being held in the Tiergarten, Berlin's massive park near the iconic Brandenburg Gate. The annual Christopher Street Day event reportedly draws people from all over the world. Around 10 pm, a white van suddenly plowed into the crowd, killing one woman and injuring dozens more. The van crashed into a tree, at which time one, possibly two men emerged from the vehicle. At least one was armed with a machete and attacked bystanders while fleeing.

Police have now released the name and photo of one suspect. He is Abdul Ballout, 21, a German citizen of Lebanese background, who is believed to have rented the van. He has a criminal background and was known to the police to have been radicalized. According to some reports, he was reportedly in the process of undergoing "deradicalization", whatever that means. This is now being classified as an Islamist terror attack.

Incredibly, even as I write, some German news sources are only describing the suspect as Abdul B.! How they expect the public's help in locating him is beyond me.

In the interest of time, we have translated just the initial paragraphs of the below article from BILD.

Police searching for Abdul Ballout (21) with photo

CSD terrorist allegedly attacked bystanders with a machete

Now a manhunt for two perpetrators. Searches at all German exterior borders

-By Katherina Metag, Til Biermann and Isabel Pfannkuche

July 26, 2026 at 16:03

It was supposed to be a day of joy and love. Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world came to Berlin for the Christopher Street Day. Stars like Sarah Connor stood on the stage. But what began as a joyous celebration ended in panic and death. On Saturday evening, a van plowed into the crowd of people. Terror!

Since the attack, the police are urgently searching for the suspect, Abdul Ballout! The 21-year-old is considered an Islamist and is known to police. But he is not believed to be the sole perpetrator. According to BILD's information, the police have information as to a possible accomplice of Abdul Ballout (21). The identity of the second suspect is not yet known. On the morning following the Horrific crime, police officers released a photo of Abdul Ballout. A woman (29) died in the attack. 29 people were injured. Two who were initially critically injured have now been stabilized.

Austria: The Sound of Silence

"Mommy, is somebody chasing us?"

"There's nobody there. Just keep singing."

 It seems bad news doesn't travel fast in Austria. That's because on the same day it was revealed that serious crime committed by migrants and various other foreigners is rising dramatically in the country, the nation's public broadcasting system, ORF, doesn't see fit to report the finding. (which reminds me of our own NPR.) This has aroused the ire of the conservative Freedom Party of Austria.

The article below from Heute is translated by Fousesquawk.

Shocking new numbers

Foreigner crime- The silence from the ORF (Austrian Broadcasting) infuriates the FPÖ (Austria Freedom Party)

21 murders, almost 500 rapes: The new figures on foreigner crime are shocking. Not one word mentioned by ORF-The FPÖ is furious

From Heute Politics\July 23, 2026 at 12:49  

164,573 foreign suspects, 21 murders by non-Austrians, 471 rapes, 1,468 cases of serious bodily injuries, as well as a new record high in asylum-seeker suspects: All of these figures- as first reported by Heute on Wednesday- were first brought to light by a parliamentary inquiry by the FPÖ (Freedom Party of Austria) to Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP/Austrian Peoples Party).

Not one word from ORF on the alarming numbers

The ORF, however, has not reported on these numbers to date. The FPÖ is using this non-reporting as an opportunity to, once again, criticize public broadcasting.  

"While the latest numbers on foreign criminality document an alarming development and constitute the most important security-political issue in the nation, the ORF yesterday reported nothing on its TV news, nor on the radio, nor on its online platforms," said the Freedom Party general secretary and press spokesman, Christian Hafenecker, angrily. 

"These developments concern every single Austrian and should actually be dominating the reportage of a public broadcaster. Instead, conspicuous silence dominates in ORF. Whoever conceals such numbers conceals the reality in our nation." 

But for the FPÖ general secretary, this approach fits seamlessly into the picture of a broadcaster that prioritizes political issues according to ideological criteria. "When it comes to damaging the FPÖ with fabricated connections, irrelevant and old chat logs, or questionable campaigns, often in concert with leftist media, the ORF has neither restraint nor lack of news. Then they will report, comment, and moralize for days and days. But when it comes to the dramatically rising criminality of foreigners and the consequences for the safety of its own population, suddenly radio silence dominates.

Instead of crime reporting, an article on an ant chef

Particularly illustrative from Hafenecker's point of view is the ORF's choice of issues on the same day. "While the record number of crimes committed by foreigners apparently was not newsworthy for the editors, what was extensively reported was a (Michelin) starred chef in South Korea, who is threatened with prison because he served ants. Apparently, the ORF considers such curiosities more important than the safety situation in its own country."

FPÖ sees ORF credibility eroding

When public broadcasting collectively turns a blind eye to one of the most explosive domestic political issues of the year, they further lose credibility, says Hafenecker. "More and more citizens are gaining the impression that ORF only reports on those issues that benefit the losing coalition government and the established parties while unpleasant developments are systematically ignored or downplayed."

No change under new ORF leadership

Even under the newly designated ORF leadership, no change is discernible, the FPÖ general secretary fears. "The ORF continues to act as a political actor rather than an objective provider of information. Critical reporting on the consequences of the failed migration policy remains absent while political campaigns against the FPÖ continue regularly. That has nothing to do with independent public broadcasting."

Italy: Two Girls Raped at Knife Point: Tunisian "Ogre" Gets 10 Years

Hat tip Gates of Vienna 

Milan courthouse

A 33-year-old Tunisian man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in Milan after being convicted of rape. The man, posing as a tattoo artist, had lured a 17-year-old girl and an 18-year-old girl to an isolated farmhouse outside Milan on the pretext of giving one of them a tattoo. At knifepoint, he then raped both of the girls.

At the trial, the prosecutor requested a 14-year sentence, but the judge sentenced the man to 10 years.

The below article from Il Giorno is translated by Fousesquawk. (Yes, the headline really calls him an ogre. I heartily agree.)

Milan: Lured and raped in a farmhouse by a fake tattoo artist: The ogre sentenced to 10 years

The two girls, one a minor, had met in a shelter for troubled girls. The 33-year-old Tunisian managed to gain their trust

Milan- They had met in a shelter for troubled girls. Their connection had become so strong that the younger one, only 17, had a great desire to have the name of the recently-turned adult friend tattooed on her arm. 

The meeting and the rape

A desire that turned into a nightmare at the hands of a man they met in Milan last spring, who, posing as a tattoo artist, promising to inscribe that symbol of friendship into her skin, lured them into an isolated farmhouse, kidnapped them, and, holding a knife to the neck of one of the two, raped them.

The sentence

For this, the judge of preliminary instruction, Cristian Mariani, in a summary trial, sentenced the 33-year-old Tunisian to 10 years in jail and a provisional fine of 25,000 euros for each of the two victims. Immediately after the reading of the verdict, the defendant, arrested in Spain and now in San Vittore (prison in Milan) shouted in and outside the courtroom. He protested the perceived severe sentence, and, partly in Arabic, partly in Italian, shouted that for him, "it was death".

The aggravating issue

The judge accepted the version of the former prosecutor, now recently assigned to the European Prosecutor's Office, Maurizio Ascione; however, he applied a reduction of 4 years to that requested (by the prosecutor-14 years) due to a different assessment of the alleged aggravating circumstances and took 60 days to file his reasons. Giuseppe Stancanelli and Andrea De Vencentis, the civil plaintiffs' lawyers, on the other hand, spoke of "a deserved sentence for despicable acts, of which the girls have provided a precise and consistent version."  

Italy: Moroccan Man (43) Dies of Heart Attack While Being Restrained by Police: Riot Ensues in Bologna

-Il Tempo

On Sunday morning (July 19) in Bologna, police were called to an incident where a 43-year-old Moroccan man was described as acting out of control and kicking garage doors. When police arrived, they attempted to restrain the man and had him pinned to the ground as he resisted. During the struggle, the man apparently succumbed to a heart attack.

This has led to outrage on the left as well as the local immigrant community. The incident is under investigation. On Monday evening (July 20), a demonstration degenerated into a violent riot resulting in destruction of private and public property and injuries to over 60 cops. A video can be seen here from Corriere della Sera.

Photos and videos from the incident involving the man, identified as Abderrahim Fakir, do not appear to show any questionable restraint methods being used, such as choke holds or any pressure on his neck. 

Fakir has reportedly lived in Italy for some years and also reportedly has a criminal record for drug offenses going back to 2001, for which he has served time in prison, and one incident on a train in 2019 when he similarly acted out of control.

Spain: 75-Year-Old Woman Found Murdered: 18-Year-Old Moroccan Man in Custody

Hat tip Gates of Vienna

Soses (Catalunya), Spain 

As Spain celebrates its World Cup victory, another innocent Spaniard has apparently been sacrificed on the altar of political correctness.  Here is the latest tragic story: In the Catalan region of Spain, a 75-year-old woman has been found murdered in a corn field outside her village, where she was walking her dog. An 18-year-old man from Morocco has been arrested and charged with the crime. 

Spain has attracted a lot of international attention with its government's decision to normalize the status of some 500,000 migrants living illegally in the country. It should be noted that a majority of those affected are from Latin America, people who have come to seek jobs. How this policy would affect those from Muslim-majority nations, like Morocco, I do not know. 

The article below from El Caso.com is translated by Fousesquawk.

Young man (18) arrested accused of being perpetrator of (homicide) involving 75-year-old woman in Soses, in Segria

On Monday, July 20, the Catalan Police arrested a young man (18), presumably connected to the death of the 75-year-old woman found dead on Saturday night in Soses, (Segria). The police, for the moment, have avoided more details about the detainee beyond his age, neither nationality nor if he has a previous arrest record. El Caso.com has been able to confirm that he is a young foreigner, originally from Morocco. The Catalan police have confirmed the arrest, that it was effected in the same municipality, and have also stated that the case remains under seal; for that reason, they have not been unable to offer more details regarding the events that have shaken this Segria municipality. The detainee, according to initial information, had been working for a well-known fruit company in Soses until he was laid off a few days ago.

The woman, Dolors Agusti, 75, a resident of the village, went out in the afternoon to walk her dog, and the animal returned to the village alone. Later, around 10:45 pm, a group of neighbors found the lifeless body of the woman with wounds compatible with a bladed weapon, according to the Catalan police. According to initial information, it appears she was attacked with a glass bottle, which was found in the area. The body of the woman showed several cuts that caused her death, including in the area of the neck. 

Open investigation

The body was concealed in a corn field, as if it had been moved between a bridge and Highway LP-7041 in the direction of Aitona, some 200 meters from the center of the village. The investigation to confirm that it was a homicide was taken over by the Criminal Investigation Division (DIC) of the police region of Ponent, who today have taken this 18-year-old into custody. For now, however, the Catalan Police have declined to give further details of the case. The Catalan Police believe that the detainee was the material perpetrator of the act and are completing the proceedings to determine what led to the attack on the woman. All investigative leads are being pursued. As of now, the investigators are unclear as to the motive of the crime, according to what ElCaso.com has been able to ascertain, and they express shock at the incident, which, for the moment, cannot be explained.

Germany: Airline Passenger Refuses to Sit Next to a Woman: Assaults Stewardess

This news apparently is just being reported in the European press within the last few days. On June 1, on a flight from Samsun, Turkey to Dusseldorf, Germany, a male passenger, described as a German of Turkish immigrant background, objected to having to sit next to a female passenger, invoking sharia law. When a stewardess attempted to resolve the situation, he allegedly struck her in the face.

According to the article below, the Sun Express flight, a joint venture between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, was an hour out of Dusseldorf. When the plane landed, the male passenger was greeted by airport police. The man reportedly admitted the act but proceeded to insult the officers, for which he now faces an additional charge of insulting an officer in addition to assaulting the flight attendant.

What is not clear to me is why the man made a scene in midflight as opposed to departure when passengers took their seats. Of course, that is irrelevant. In addition, even if the incident had happened at the airport in Turkey on a Turkish aircraft, I doubt the accused had any legal recourse under sharia law. For most of the past century, Turkey has been a secular country. Even under Erdogan, I seriously doubt that sharia law would apply in Turkey. I am assuming the man was assigned a seat next to a woman at the Samsun airport. 

The below article in Bild is translated by Fousesquawk. 

Flight to Dusseldorf

Passenger strikes stewardess over sharia

He did not want to sit next to a woman

-By Uwe Wojtuschak

July 17, 2026 at 0:700

Dusseldorf: Beatings over sharia? A man on a flight from Samsun (Turkey) to Dusseldorf allegedly became abusive because he did not want to sit next to a woman. When a stewardess responded to the situation, he reportedly struck her in the face. The police are investigating.

According to Bild's information, the incident, which the authorities are now investigating, occurred on June 1, around 6 am on a Sun Express flight (a voint venture of Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines). Subsequently, the federal police at the airport were called to the plane, which landed at 6:59 am to take an assault report.  

The criminal report has now been forwarded from the federal police to the Dusseldorf police, who will conduct further investigation. A police spokesman told Bild, " According to initial witness statements, "the man invoked sharia law and refused to sit next to a woman." The flight attendant then spoke to him, and then the passenger reportedly slapped her.

Federal police insulted

According to Bild's information, the accused passenger is a 29-year-old German from the Ruhr area, apparently with a Turkish migrant background. As Bild learned, the passenger admitted the act to officers of the Federal Police. However, the conversation did not go harmoniously. 

As the Federal Police confirmed to Bild, the man insulted the officers in Turkish. But since one of the Federal Police officers himself spoke Turkish, the incident was not without consequences. In addition to the assault charge, there is also a charge of insulting (an officer). 

The Politicization of Scholarship and the American Anthropological Association

As I occasionally do, I am cross-posting an article by Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, co-founder of the Amcha Initiative, which is dedicated to exposing and confronting campus anti-Semitism.

This article has to do with a recent study commissioned by Washington University of St Louis and Vanderbilt University that concludes that every discipline in the humanities and social sciences that was examined is guilty of substituting political criteria for proper scholarly criteria, resulting in a deterioration of scholarly standards. The study also highlights anthropology as a prominent example.

Not surprisingly, this drew a sharp rebuke from the American Anthropological Association (AAA). Both the study and the response from AAA are linked in Rossman-Benjamin's article, which appears in the Washington Examiner.

What is most striking about Rossman-Benjamin's article is that she points out that the AAA itself provided People's Exhibit 1 to the charge when it became the first major professional organization in an academic field to endorse the academic boycott of Israel, one of the most politicized topics in American academia today, if not the most. The impact on Jewish students of this massive academic campaign against the Jewish state of Israel has been well documented over at least the past two decades-including on this site.

There is little I can add to the above-mentioned links, and this is purely anecdotal, but I vividly recall when I attended two presentations on the same date (February 8, 2011) at the University of California at Irvine when an anthropology professor by the name of Jeff Halper spoke. Halper, an American Jew who emigrated to Israel, has repaid his adopted country over the years by traveling the world and condemning Israel in terms of its treatment and relations with the Palestinians. On the second occasion he spoke that date, he warned the audience about a secret weapon the Israeli's allegedly possessed called spectral dust. According to Halper, when this substance was programmed with the DNA of an Israeli target and released into the atmosphere in a particular area, it would locate the target individual (presumably a Palestinian) and kill him or her. I should add that in his earlier appearance during the day, he was the guest lecturer of a UC Irvine professor's class.

To me, this is an example of what the above study is all about.

Spain: Three Moroccan Brothers Arrested for Attempted Rape

Hat tip Gates of Vienna and Remix (Hungary)

Playa de Palma, Mallorca, Spain

Not all fun in the sun

Three Moroccan brothers, ages 18, 23, and 26, are in jail in Playa de Palma, Mallorca, Spain, charged with beating and attempting to rape a young woman on the beach.  The article below in Diario de Mallorca has the details. Translation by Fousesquawk.

The persons arrested for hitting and trying to rape a girl in Playa de Palma are 3 brothers

The young men approached the victim to "pick her up", but when she told them to "go to (Hell)", they reacted with violence

-By Xavier Peris, Palma July 17, 2026 at 8:09

Three brothers of Moroccan nationality, 18, 23, and 26, were arrested by the National Police for hitting and sexually attacking a young girl in Playa de Palma in the early morning of June 30. The victim told the police officers that they first approached her, trying to "pick her up", but that she told them to "go to (Hell). They then reacted with violence. The three grabbed her by the neck and dragged her to the sand, where they tried to pull down her pants to rape her. The young girl, also a little over 20 years of age, put up a strong resistance so that they could not consummate the rape, although they punched her and subjected her to sexual touching. Two weeks later, the victim recognized the attackers on the street and alerted the police, who arrested them.

According to police sources, the events occurred around 5 in the morning on June 30. The three brothers approached a young girl in a nightlife zone of Playa de Palma, near the border with Llucmajor.  According to what the victim stated later, first they tried to "pick her up", but the young girl told them to "go to Hell".

The young men then reacted with violence. They grabbed her by the neck, and the three dragged her to the sandy area of the beach, where they subjected her to sexual touching and tried to take down her pants, presumably to rape her. The girl yelled and put up a strong resistance. Though they kicked and punched her in the face, they were unable to consummate the rape and finally escaped.  

The victim, a young girl of about 25, filed a complaint with the National Police, although initially, she did not mention the sexual attack because, according to what she stated later, she was "ashamed". Thus, she only stated that the three individuals had beaten her and taken her cell phone.

However, two weeks later, last Tuesday, around nine o'clock at night, the young girl ran into her attackers on Calle Trencadores (street), very close to where the attack occurred. At that time, the girl was accompanied by a relative. They immediately notified the National Police, and the man succeeded in detaining two of them until a patrol arrived. The officers conducted a search in the surrounding area and located the third suspect a short time later.

The officers confirmed that the three arrestees are brothers, ages 18, 23, and 26, of Moroccan nationality residing legally in Spain.

After the arrests, the young woman filed a supplemental complaint, in which she related that during the assault, they tried to take off her pants, presumably with the intention of raping her, and subjected her to sexual touching. She explained that she had not reported this initially because she felt "ashamed". The young girl did not suffer serious injuries as a result of the attack.

The three suspects remain detained for the crimes of assault with injuries and sexual assault.

 

Germany: Another (Alleged) Afghan Murder

Hat tip Gates of Vienna

On July 15, a 22-year-old student at the University of Trier was attacked on the street and stabbed to death. A 22-year-old Afghan man has been arrested and charged with murder. It appears to be yet another innocent victim of the German government's insistence on allowing millions of questionable people into their country.

The article below from BILD is translated by Fousesquawk.

University of Trier in mourning

Afghan (22) stabs student (22) to death near campus

Caption: Police and rescue personnel at the scene of the crime on Petrisberg in Trier

Photo: Floria Blaes/dpa

Joern Karstedt and Claudia Detsch

July 15, 2026 at 21:26

Trier (Rheinland-Pfalz) - A horrific and bloody crime in Trier. On a street only a few hundred meters from the university campus, on Wednesday morning, a 22-year-old student was stabbed to death. The suspect is an Afghan man of the same age. He allegedly attacked the German with a knife. 

Around 09:55, witnesses reported an injured person on Robert Schuman Allee in Trier (Rheinland-Pfalz). The victim was a man reportedly attacked with a knife, police report.  It was further reported that the perpetrator fled.

Search for the stabber

Police and rescue personnel rushed to the scene, and there, rescue personnel resuscitated the 22-year-old behind a privacy screen. At the same time, a manhunt was launched for the stabber. A suspect was tracked down and arrested a short time later on the nearby Frankenstrasse (street). According to police, he is an Afghan (22) who is registered in Trier.

The German student died of his wounds in the clinic. Why he was allegedly attacked by the Afghan is still unclear as of Wednesday evening. A homicide squad is investigating the exact sequence of events, the weapon that was used, and the background.

Christian Democratic Union (CD) sees "urgent need for action"

Several witnesses had to be cared for at the scene by emergency chaplains, and the shock at the University of Trier is great. "With great dismay and deep sadness, we have learned that a student at our university was the victim of a homicide on July 15, 2026," says the homepage of the university that evening. The loss leaves a painful void in the community. The CDU in Trier also expressed sadness with postings on social media. "Our sympathy as well as our deepest condolences to the family, all dependents, and friends of the victim. Another brutal knife attack in this country, which is inexcusable and shows the urgent need for action." 

Police are requesting that no photos or videos of the terrible crime be disseminated. Further witnesses should report to the investigators by phone at 0651/983-43900 or through the newly activated tip line.

Italy: The Final Chapter of the Saman Abbas "Honor Killing"

Hat tip Gates of Vienna

Saman Abbas

For the past few years, we have been following the story of Saman Abbas, an 18-year-old Pakistani girl living in Italy, who was murdered by members of her family in 2021 in a so-called honor crime because she was refusing to marry an older man in Pakistan in a marriage arranged by her family, and because she wanted to live a Western lifestyle in Italy. Eventually, her parents, her two cousins, and her uncle were charged with her death, extradited from Pakistan, Spain, and France, and brought to trial in Italy.

Subsequent to verdicts by the court of first instance, the appellate court, and now by the Court of Cassation (which rules based on legal trial issues), the sentences are final. Life imprisonment for the parents and the two cousins, and 22 years for the uncle.

The article below from yesterday's Il Giornale is translated by Fousesquawk.

Homicide of Saman Abbas: Sentences finalized: Life in prison for the parents and cousins, 22 years for the uncle

The Court of Cassation rejects the appeals of the accused and confirms the sentences handed down on appeal. According to the indictment, the young girl was murdered for having opposed an arranged marriage and for having adopted a lifestyle deemed incompatible with family traditions.

-By Rosa Scognamiglio    July 15, 2026 - 10:43

The Court of Cassation has confirmed all the sentences handed down on appeal for 5 defendants for the homicide of Saman Abbas, the 18-year-old Pakistani girl killed in Novellara (Reggio Emilia) on the night of April 30 and May 1, 2021. Therefore, the sentence of life imprisonment is finalized for the parents, Shabbar Abbas and Nazia Shaheen, and for the cousins, Ijaz Ikram and Noman Ul Haq, as well as the 22-year sentence in prison for the uncle, Danish Hasnain. The Supreme Court justices have rejected the appeals lodged by the defendants' lawyers, thus putting the final word on a long judicial chapter.

The prosecutor's indictment

Over the course of the indictment, the General Prosecutor, Marco Dall'Olio, had traced the steps of the tragic story, defining it as "chilling". Saman "had to be killed," the prosecutor explained. "The intention was to teach her a lesson: She could not decide her life for herself; she could not have her own life". The crime, "was organized down to the smallest detail, a concerted and premeditated act". And more: "The murder, despite having its own cultural roots, betrays the recourse to extreme violence, disproportionate, chosen as the only instrument to 'express an alleged guilt', the girl's desire for liberty, that caused the vile and ignoble motive." On appeal, the aggravating circumstances of premeditation and frivolous motives on the part of the accused were recognized.  

The reactions

The verdict of the Court of Cassation as to the murder of Saman Abbas "represents a turning point on the social level even more than judicial". That was stated by Attorney Maria Teresa Manente, head of the legal department of Differenza Donna and civil attorney for the association. "Her death, " she adds, "was not an excess, an impulse, nor an accident within a distant cultural context: It was, as revealed by the same trial documents, a punishment. The process of killing her was born at the exact moment in which Saman dared to assert the right to choose who to love, to study, how to dress, how to live. Her freedom was her 'crime' in the eyes of her family, her life was the punishment". Attorney Rossella Benedetti, lawyer for the association, commented on the sentences: "The confirmation by the Court of Cassation finally brings justice to Saman and concerns all the 'invisible' women like her in our country who, every day, turn to our anti-violence centers asking for protection". Finaly, she concludes, "The sentence concern the ability of our institutions to promptly recognize the risk indicators present in stories such as that of Saman and to fulfill their obligation to guarantee, in a prompt manner, maximum protection."  

The history

Saman Abbas was killed in Novellara, Reggio Emilia, on the night of April 30-May 1, 2021. The body was buried in a plot of land adjacent to an abandoned farmhouse not far from the residence where the girl lived with her parents and a brother. Dismissing the original theory of a voluntary departure, the investigations focused on the theory of a family crime, thanks also to the testimony of the young girl's then-fiancé. Images captured by surveillance cameras at the farm where the Abbas family worked showed some people walking towards the fields with digging tools in the hours prior to the alleged disappearance of the girl. Also reinforcing the suspicions of the investigators were the family's movements in the following days: the parents returned to Pakistan, while the uncle and the cousins tried to disappear, moving between France and Spain. All of the accused, at different times, were arrested and extradited to Italy. In November 2022, after information was provided by the uncle, the girl's remains were found. The autopsy confirmed that she died from strangulation. In February 2023, the trial opened in the Criminal Court of Reggio Emilia: The parents were sentenced to life imprisonment (the mother in absentia because she was still wanted), the uncle to 14 years, and the cousins acquitted. The public prosecutor appealed the sentence, maintaining that all the family members had played a role in the murder. In April 2025, the Appellate Criminal Court of Bologna partially overturned the verdict in the initial trial, sentencing the cousins to life imprisonment and the uncle to 22 years in prison. In the reasoning of the sentence by the appeals court, the judges explained that Saman was killed because her family did not accept her desire for independence and her wish to evade the rules imposed by her parents. 

In fact, the young woman had reported her mother and father for maltreatment, and she was opposed to a forced marriage with an older man in Pakistan. In addition, she had shown a desire to adapt a lifestyle closer to Western customs and had asserted her right to be a free woman.