Ali Bashar's mother: My son was intoxicated, not alone in act

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The mother of Ali Bashar, the suspect in the rape and murder of a German teenage girl, in a phone call interview with German news outlet DW on Saturday claimed her son did not remember the incident due to intoxication, adding he was not alone in the act.

Bashar, a failed Iraqi Kurdish asylum seeker, had allegedly murdered 14-year-old Susanna Feldman after raping her and dumping her body near the German city of Wiesbaden.

According to Bashar’s mother, he had told her “a Turkish guy and the girl [Feldman] were with me, but I don’t remember what happened.”

The exchange had come after the suspect’s mother had learned through her daughter who saw reports on social media pointing to Bashar as the primary suspect in the crime.

Duhok city police Chief Tariq Ahmed told Kurdistan 24 that following Bashar’s arrest on Friday in the Kurdistan Region city of Zakho, he confessed to the crime. The 20-year-old was later flown back to Germany where he awaits trial.

Upon inquiries into the cause of the family’s sudden return to Kurdistan, the mother claimed her husband had suffered a stroke and lost his memory, and they were coming back to take care of him.

“He wanted to see his children before he died,” she said, not clarifying why they had not left earlier.

She also expressed her apologies to the Feldman family and the community affected by the tragedy.

The case has renewed debates in the German public regarding the country’s immigration policy.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany