Day three after the murder of clan member Mohamed Rabieh (25) at the “Neuköllner Maientage” folk festival in Hasenheide. And the perpetrator is still not caught!
By Timo Beurich, Matthias Lukashewitsch and Maren Wittge
At the time of the crime at 11 p.m. on Saturday evening, there were still hundreds of visitors to the site. However, a call for witnesses by the Berlin police “fizzed” largely without effect: “So far, only five tips have been received about what is happening on the festival site,” as Mona Lorenz, spokeswoman for the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office, announced on Monday.
And none of that seemed to hold up. “We still cannot say anything about possible perpetrators and motives,” said the spokeswoman. “We do not participate in speculation about clan disputes as a background.”
A previously unknown perpetrator is said to have attacked Mohamed R. with a knife when he threatened an opponent with a pistol in an argument in front of a lottery booth. Previously, the men of both groups had gotten into a fight.
Mohamed Rabieh fell to the ground, fatally stabbed several times. The perpetrator fled. According to BZ information, he should be a member of another extended family. Mohamed Rabieh is the younger brother of Nidal Rabieh (36).
This had fallen victim to an act of revenge after disputes with another extended family. Nidal Rabieh was shot dead on the edge of Tempelhofer Feld on September 9, 2018. The perpetrator has not been caught to this day!
The search for Mohamed Rabieh’s killer could go faster. The photo of an alleged suspect is already being passed on to relevant tradespeople and business people in Kreuzberg’s Gräfekiez. The man is said to be a member of a competing clan.
Read about this: Knife attack at a folk festival – clan member († 25) pulled out a gun – then the situation escalated
And apparently the police and judiciary must be prepared for relatives from the Rabieh family’s environment to look for a suspect on their own: “They specifically target young Arabs in Gräfekiez,” said a local resident to the BZ “They ask if they know anything .” Members of the “perpetrator” family are said to live in the neighborhood.
Mohamed Rabieh’s lawyer was concerned: “It’s bad for the mother that she has now lost her second son by force,” as Kristina Beulich said. She looked after Mohamed Rabieh on residence status issues and had the impression that “he could get the curve. You don’t have to become a criminal to survive here”. She had hope for him, she said, that he “can do it”. According to the lawyer, he was “more reflective and considered” than his older brother.
Mohamed also tried to integrate through sport. But that was apparently only with little success. He completed a few fights – under a German name – like his older brother did back then.
On Monday evening there was a funeral service for Mohamed Rabieh in the “Dar Assalam” mosque on Flughafenstrasse (Neukölln).
Several police vehicles and officers in uniform were parked in front of the building. About 200 people came – relatives, friends, companions. An imam prayed for the killed Mohamed Rabieh (25).
The imam called for silence at Thursday’s funeral. That is the only thing that can help the dead.
