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AFGHANISTAN

Trial starts of Afghan accused of killing woman for converting to Christianity

An Afghan asylum seeker went on trial in southern Germany on Tuesday accused of stabbing to death a compatriot mother-of-four because he was furious she had converted to Christianity.

Trial starts of Afghan accused of killing woman for converting to Christianity
The unnamed defendant in court on Tuesday. Photo: DPA

Prosecutors charge that the 30-year-old, who was not named by authorities, murdered the woman in front of two of her children because she had turned her back on the Islamic faith.

The Muslim man allegedly used a 20-centimetre bladed knife to slash and stab the Afghan woman 16 times outside a supermarket in the southern city of Prien on Chiemsee lake on April 29th last year.

The case came at a time when the German public is torn over a mass influx of more than one million refugees and migrants since 2015, many from conflict-torn Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The 38-year-old woman had earlier asked the man whether he wanted to convert too, a request that was “irreconcilable with his Muslim faith,” prosecutors told the court in the city of Traunstein.

Two of the woman's children, aged five and 11, watched as the man allegedly killed their mother. Her two other children are adults.

Passers-by tried to stop the attacker by hurling a shopping trolley at him.

After his arrest, the man claimed he had acted out of frustration about his looming deportation as a rejected asylum seeker.

He was initially held in a psychiatric ward for about three months and then transferred to standard pre-trial detention.

The court has scheduled four days of hearings.

Homicide carries a life term under German law, although convicts are usually released after 15 years.

BUSINESS

Elon Musk visits Tesla’s sabotage-hit German factory

Elon Musk travelled Wednesday to Tesla's factory near Berlin to lend his workers "support" after the plant was forced to halt production by a suspected arson attack on nearby power lines.

Elon Musk visits Tesla's sabotage-hit German factory

The Tesla CEO addressed thousands of employees on arrival at the site, accusing “eco-terrorists” of the sabotage as he defended his company’s green credentials.

With his son X AE A-XII in his arms, Musk said: “I am here to support you.”

The billionaire’s visit came a week after power lines supplying the electric carmaker’s only European plant were set on fire in an act of sabotage claimed by a far-left group called the Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group).

READ ALSO: Far-left group claims ‘sabotage’ on Tesla’s German factory

Musk had said then that the attack was “extremely dumb”, while the company said it would cost it several hundred million euros.

A week on, the lights have come back on at the site, but Andre Thierig, who heads the site, said on LinkedIn that it would “take a bit of time” before production is back to full speed.

Industry experts have warned that the reputational impact caused by the sabotage on the region could be more severe than the losses suffered by Tesla.

Tesla’s German plant started production in 2022 following an arduous two-year approval and construction process dogged by administrative and legal obstacles.

Tesla wants to expand the site by 170 hectares and boost production up to one million vehicles annually to feed Europe’s growing demand for electric cars and take on rivals who are shifting away from combustion engine vehicles.

But the plans have annoyed local residents, who voted against the project in a non-binding ballot last month.

After the vote, Tesla said it might have to rethink the plans. Environmental activists opposed to the expansion of the factory have recently also set up a camp in a wooded area near the plant.

READ ALSO: Why is Tesla’s expansion near Berlin so controversial?

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