MAGDEBURG, Germany – December 21, 2024 – A festive evening at a bustling Christmas market in Magdeburg turned into a scene of devastation on Friday night by a terrorist psychiatrist, as a vehicle plowed through crowds of holiday shoppers, leaving five people dead and over 200 injured.

Authorities have identified the suspect as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old Saudi-born psychiatrist who has lived in Germany since 2006.

The incident occurred around 7:00 p.m. local time when a black BMW tore through the heart of the market, packed with families and revelers enjoying the holiday season. Eyewitnesses described scenes of panic and chaos as the car barreled through vendor stalls and sent people running for their lives.

“It was horrifying,” said Maria Schultz, a local resident who was at the market with her children. “One moment, we were admiring the lights, and the next, there was screaming and people on the ground.”

Among the victims of the terrorist psychiatrist was a nine-year-old child, whose death has sent shockwaves through the community. Medical personnel worked through the night to treat the injured, many of whom remain in critical condition.

A Troubled Figure Emerges

Terrorist Psychiatrist Al-Abdulmohsen, who was arrested at the scene, has a complex history. Originally from Saudi Arabia, he moved to Germany in 2006 and was granted asylum a decade later, citing threats from his homeland over his outspoken criticism of Islam and the Saudi government.

Known for his anti-Islam rhetoric, Al-Abdulmohsen worked as a psychiatrist and had been employed at a correctional facility in Bernburg, where he treated addicted criminals. Investigators have revealed that the suspect was under the influence of drugs at the time of the attack.

His online presence, which includes conspiracy theories and far-right rhetoric, has drawn significant attention.

Posts from his social media accounts suggest a deep mistrust of German authorities and accusations that they were attempting to “Islamize Europe.” Saudi officials had reportedly warned Germany about Psychiatrist Al-Abdulmohsen’s extremist views, but no preventive measures were taken.

“This raises serious questions about how such warnings are processed and acted upon,” said political analyst Jakob Meier.

A Nation in Mourning and Reflection

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed condolences to the victims and their families, calling the attack “a senseless act of violence.”

On Saturday morning, Scholz visited the site, laying flowers and meeting with local officials to discuss measures to prevent similar incidents in the future. “The safety of our citizens is paramount, especially during times of celebration,” Scholz said during a press briefing. “We will ensure a thorough investigation and take immediate action to address security concerns.”

The attack has drawn comparisons to the 2016 jihadist attack on a Berlin Christmas market, which claimed 12 lives and injured dozens. While the motivations behind Friday’s attack appear different, the outcome has reignited debates over immigration and security in Germany. Some political leaders have called for stricter vetting of asylum seekers and greater surveillance of individuals flagged as potential threats.

Community Response

In the aftermath of the tragedy, Magdeburg residents have come together to support one another. Vigils have been held across the city, and makeshift memorials adorned with candles and flowers now line the streets near the market.

Local business owner Klaus Reinhardt, whose stall was destroyed in the attack, said the community’s resilience is strong. “This is a dark moment for Magdeburg, but we won’t let it define us. We’ll rebuild and come back stronger.”

Security has been tightened at Christmas markets across Germany, with additional police presence and vehicle barriers now commonplace. However, for many, the sense of joy that marks the holiday season has been irreparably dimmed.

A Broader Implication

As Germany grapples with the aftermath of this attack, the questions surrounding integration, extremism, and public safety loom larger than ever.

Terrorist Psychiatrist Al-Abdulmohsen’s story — from asylum seeker to alleged perpetrator of a heinous act — adds a layer of complexity to an already fraught national conversation.

For now, Magdeburg mourns its loss, as the rest of the country watches closely, hoping for answers and resolutions to ensure that such a tragedy never occurs again.

The familiar setup plays out again: a woman stares into a mirror, her reflection tired and somber. Then, as she starts an antidepressant, her life magically transforms. Her corgi prances at her feet, and her family reunites joyfully—all while a voice rattles off chilling side effects: suicidal thoughts, strokes, or even death.

Logan H. Merrill, writing for Freedom Magazine, highlights this practice in a recent investigation, calling out the nearly $40 billion psychiatric drug industry for its mastery of distraction. For years, Big Pharma has relied on these tactics to downplay the risks of their products. But new FDA rules, effective November 20, 2024, aim to change that.

Cracking Down on Cuddly Distractions

As Merrill explains, the updated FDA rules require drug ads to present side effect warnings in a “clear, conspicuous, and neutral manner.” This nine-page guideline, more than a decade in the making, bans manipulative visuals and soothing audio designed to distract viewers.

Merrill describes a recent Rexulti commercial as a prime example: while the voiceover warns of side effects like permanent muscle disorders, coma, or death, the screen fills with heartwarming scenes of corgis and family picnics. Such ads, Merrill writes, have historically flouted earlier FDA rules by disguising their warnings in happy imagery.

But under the new guidelines, the days of glossing over grim realities with adorable pets and warm lighting may be numbered.

Big Pharma’s Legal Gymnastics

However, Merrill astutely notes that pharmaceutical companies are unlikely to roll over. Instead of compliance, they’re likely searching for ways to exploit loopholes. In Freedom Magazine, Merrill envisions a scenario in which corporate boards, faced with these new rules, quickly call in their legal teams to strategize a workaround.

One glaring loophole, as Merrill outlines, lies in the rules’ limited scope: the regulations apply only to television and radio ads. They don’t touch social media, telehealth companies, or online influencers—channels that have become central to modern advertising.

The Rise of Influencers and Telehealth

Merrill warns that Big Pharma has already begun shifting its marketing efforts online, where the FDA’s oversight doesn’t reach. Social media influencers, in particular, are becoming key players in promoting psychiatric drugs. These influencers are often viewed as more relatable and trustworthy than traditional ads, which Merrill sees as a dangerous trend.

Adding to the problem, telehealth companies are now partnering with drugmakers to promote medications under the radar. As Merrill writes, these platforms—free from the same advertising restrictions as the manufacturers—offer yet another avenue for Big Pharma to sidestep transparency.

Congress Takes Aim at Loopholes

In response to this growing concern, Merrill reports that Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Mike Braun (R-IN) have introduced the Protecting Patients from Deceptive Drug Ads Online Act. This bill aims to close the loopholes by holding not just drug manufacturers but also influencers and telehealth companies accountable.

As Merrill explains, if the legislation passes, anyone promoting prescription drugs online would be required to disclose who is paying them. Such a move could force transparency across the board—a direct challenge to Big Pharma’s current practices.

A Battle for Truth

Throughout Freedom Magazine’s exposé, Merrill emphasizes the urgency of addressing these loopholes. While the FDA’s new rules mark a step toward accountability, they leave significant gaps that allow pharmaceutical companies to continue their manipulative tactics unchecked.

Merrill’s reporting makes one thing clear: the battle for truth in drug advertising is far from over. As the industry pivots to the unregulated digital frontier, the stakes for consumer safety and transparency couldn’t be higher.

Big Pharma, as Merrill deftly highlights, has built its empire on distraction. Whether it can be forced into genuine accountability remains to be seen.

Every year, millions of women and girls in the world are subjected to the procedure “female circumcision.” In the process of this dangerous practice, women have part or all of their external genitalia removed. Among the victims are also residents of the North Caucasian republics of Russia, and the Russian authorities do not punish the execution of the violent procedure.

How this violent religious-ritual tradition exists in modern Russia, do the authorities and the clergy try to fight it – reveals the Russian publication of Verstka.

What is “female circumcision”

Female circumcision is a procedure that is accompanied by either trauma or partial or complete amputation of the external genitalia. As a result of the procedure, sensitivity is reduced and the woman may lose the ability to have an orgasm.

Not for medical reasons

The procedure is not performed for medical reasons, but for ritual or religious reasons to suppress female sexuality. That is why in the international medical community this term is not used, but is called “female genital mutilation operations”. International law considers them an attack on the health of women and girls, a form of violence and discrimination.

Victims

Victims of female circumcision are girls up to the age of 15. According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2024, more than 230 million women in the world suffered from such operations. They are mostly carried out in African, Asian, Latin American and Middle Eastern countries. But there are also victims of female circumcision in Russia among the residents of the North Caucasian republics – Dagestan, Ingushetia and Chechnya.

Injuries

The procedure has serious negative consequences for women’s health – from serious injuries to death due to blood loss. In addition to physical trauma and the shock of pain, female circumcision disrupts the natural functioning of the body. Women and girls may suffer from infections, their genitourinary system may be damaged, they may experience pain during sexual intercourse, menstrual disorders may occur, and the risk of complications during childbirth and death of the mother and the newborn increases by 50%.

Why do they do it?

The “necessity” of such operations is justified by honoring traditions or religious motives. In some cultures, it is part of the rite of female initiation or entry into adult life. Female circumcision is often associated with Islam, including in the Russian Federation.

Prevents lust

In the words of Dagestan journalist Zakir Magomedov, “in the local religious press, which is issued by the official clergy, articles are published in which it is written that female circumcision has a beneficial effect on a woman and protects her from lustful thoughts and desires, and is even beneficial for a woman.”

Female circumcision is performed by people without medical training, and old pocket knives or cattle shears are used as tools.

Control over female sexuality

In almost all cases, the purpose of the procedure is defined as control over female sexuality: “not to be hoika”, “not to freak out”. The official clergy of Dagestan include female circumcision in religious duties, although it is not mentioned in the Koran. Some Muslims, in addition to the Koran, are also guided by the Sunnah – traditions from the life of the Prophet Muhammad and statements of authoritative religious figures. Therefore, in some cases, female circumcision among Muslims can be interpreted as permissible, desirable and even mandatory.

Officially, the Russian authorities are against it

“All women should be circumcised so that there is no debauchery on Earth, to reduce sexuality”, this is how the head of the Coordination Council of Muslims of the North Caucasus, Ismail Berdiev, reacted to the revelations of the “Legal Initiative” organization in 2016, which confirmed the existence of practice. Later, Berdiev clarified that “he did not call for female circumcision”, but only spoke about the “problem of debauchery”, with which “something must be done”.

The Russian Ministry of Health condemns the procedure, and the prosecutor’s office of Dagestan conducts an investigation and finds no confirmation of the facts presented in the report of “Legal Initiative.”

The deputy of the State Duma from “United Russia” Maria Maksakova-Igenbergs proposes to introduce the concept of “women’s discrimination on religious grounds” into the Penal Code, and that the punishment for “female circumcision” be 10 years in prison. The Ministry of Justice of Russia does not support Maksakova’s initiative, clarifying that the procedure falls under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and more precisely under the paragraphs on “deliberately causing severe, medium and light harm to health, as well as causing harm to carelessness.”

North Caucasus

According to the “Legal Initiative” organization, in the middle of the last decade in Dagestan, at least 1,240 girls were subjected to the procedure annually. The majority of the men surveyed were categorically against the ban on female circumcision, explaining their motive not only with Islam, but also with local traditions and the desire to control the morality of women. Part of the respondents expressed an opinion against the procedure, arguing that the lack of sensitivity in women lowers the quality of sex in men as well.

And in Moscow

In 2018 one of the Moscow medical clinics announces the service of “female circumcision” for ritual and religious reasons for girls from 5 to 12 years old. On the clinic’s website, it was noted that “the operation should be performed not at home, but in a medical clinic.” After a wide public response, the clinic removed the information from its website, but an investigation was carried out, which found the existence of the procedure and other violations. A warning has been issued and the clinic is still open!

First conviction without penalty

Despite the fact that in its second report the organization “Legal Initiative” notes the disappearance of the practice in Chechnya and Ingushetia, the inhabitants of these regions remain in danger. In the spring of 2020, the father of a 9-year-old girl invited him to Magas (the capital of Ingushetia) for a visit and took him to a vaccine clinic. There, female circumcision was forcibly performed on the child. The value of the “service” is 2000 rubles. The little girl, in her bloodstained dress, was then put on a bus back to Chechnya, where she was hospitalized for severe blood loss. The father explains his motive as follows: “So that he doesn’t get excited.”

A criminal case has been opened against the gynecologist who performed the circumcision for intentionally causing minor harm to health. The case has been going on for a year and a half. The judge called on the parties to reconcile, adding that “the girl cannot be helped anyway”. In the end, the doctor was found guilty and fined 30,000 rubles, but was released from serving the sentence due to the statute of limitations. No criminal proceedings have been initiated against the clinic.

In the same year, the mufti of Dagestan issued a fatwa and recognized the removal of the external genitalia as forbidden in Islam, but clarified that “female circumcision” meant only hudectomy — the removal of the foreskin of the clitoris. This is also a crippling procedure, human rights defenders insist.