Munich car-ramming: Afghan man jailed for life

A Munich court sentenced an Afghan man to life in prison on Thursday for a car-ramming attack last year that killed a two-year-old girl and her mother and injured dozens of people.

The court found the 25-year-old defendant, identified only as Farhad N., guilty of two counts of murder, 23 counts of attempted murder and 22 counts of bodily harm, 19 of them serious.

The court also found that the offences carried a “particular gravity of guilt”, a designation that makes it much less likely he will be released from prison.

Farhad N. was accused of deliberately driving a Mini Cooper into a trade union march of about 1,400 people in Munich. A 37-year-old woman and her young daughter were thrown through the air and later died from severe head injuries.

Prosecutors said during the trial that Farhad N. acted with a religious motivation and had said “Allahu akbar” after the rampage. They did not believe he was part of an organised jihadist movement such as the Islamic State group.

His defence team had asked for him to be sent to a psychiatric facility. Court-appointed experts found that his mental health problems did not reduce his degree of responsibility.

The attack came on the eve of the Munich Security Conference and days before Germany’s February 2025 general election, when immigration and security were major political issues.