Germany releases Iraqi arrested for murder that caused nationalist protests

After holding an Iraqi asylum-seeker in jail for almost a month in connection with a murder that sparked anti-immigrant protests, a court in Germany set him free on Tuesday, his lawyer told Reuters.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – After holding a 22-year-old Iraqi asylum-seeker in jail for almost a month in connection with a murder that sparked anti-immigrant protests, a court in Germany set him free on Tuesday, his lawyer told Reuters.

“Today’s revocation of the arrest warrant was long overdue,” lawyer Ulrich Dost-Roxin posted on his website.

“My client Yousif A. has had to spend more than three weeks in remand without any concrete suspicion.”

Another man from Syria who was also detained over the stabbing death of a 35-year-old Cuban-German carpenter in the city of Chemnitz is still being held, and another wanted for questioning is still at large, according to a prosecutor.

After the Iraqi and Syrian man had initially been named as the two primary suspects in the crime, violent nationalist protests flared in the city and included crowds attacking those perceived to be foreigners.

The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, Hans-Georg Maassen, then landed in hot political water for denying that video footage of the protests was authentic and questioning whether the well-documented attacks occurred at all.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other political leaders were scheduled to meet on Tuesday to discuss sacking Maassen, but the press has yet to receive an announcement of the outcome.

Either decision could spell trouble for Merkel’s fragile center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) coalition.

Millions of immigrants from various countries have come to Germany since a 2015 decision by Merkel to open the border to refugees fleeing Syria and other nations, and it has become a hot-button issue, further dividing an already partisan and hostile political environment in the country.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany