Iraqi asylum seeker accused of killing a girl by pushing her in front of a train
Germany is in shock after the death of 16-year-old Liana K., who was killed on August 11 at the Friedland train station in Lower Saxony. It is believed that Mohammed A., a 31-year-old Iraqi, intentionally pushed her in front of a speeding freight train. The case has sparked widespread political controversy, with many blaming serious flaws in the asylum and deportation system.
Initially, it was believed that the incident was just an accidental tragedy, but suspicions grew after the girl's grandfather in Ukraine stated that he was talking to her on the phone at the time of the incident, and he heard the sound of the train approaching followed by a sudden scream before the call was disconnected. Later, the police found DNA traces of Muhammad A. on the victim's shoulder, which reinforced the hypothesis that what happened was a deliberate attack. The accused was intoxicated at the time of the incident and suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, and has since been admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
The circumstances of his stay in Germany have become the focus of investigations. Mohammed A. applied for initial asylum in Lithuania in 2021, but he left and moved to Germany even though Lithuania is legally responsible for his case under the Dublin Agreement. Although German authorities issued a deportation order in 2022 and the judiciary confirmed the decision at the beginning of 2025, the deportation process has never been carried out. Even after serving a prison sentence last July, attempts to place him in detention in preparation for his deportation failed due to procedural errors.
Public anger increased after it was revealed that the accused has a criminal record in Germany. In 2024, he was sentenced to pay a fine for indecent behavior, but he did not pay the amount and was later sentenced to alternative imprisonment. He was also known to suffer from psychological problems and had previously been admitted to a mental institution, yet he remained free until the deadly Friedland incident occurred.
Politicians are now demanding clear answers. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) called for a comprehensive investigation to understand why the deportation was not carried out, while Lower Saxony's Interior Minister Daniela Behrens (SPD) pointed to structural problems in the European Dublin system. Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) considered the case a tragic example of the 'failure' of the European migration system. In contrast, members of the Green Party warned against right-wing extremists exploiting the girl's tragedy for political gain.
In the heart of this storm remains a grieving family that lost their daughter. Liana K. fled with her family from the city of Mariupol in Ukraine in 2022 to escape the Russian invasion, and she had just begun her vocational training as a dental assistant in the city of Heilbad Heiligenstadt shortly before her death. But her life ended suddenly in an incident that many Germans see not only as a personal tragedy but also as evidence of the system's failure to protect them.