Ali Bashar covers his face as he arrives at a court in Wiesbaden on Tuesday BORIS ROESSLER/AP

A failed Iraqi asylum seeker accused of raping and murdering a 14-year-old girl in Germany has admitted strangling her but said she agreed to have sex.

Ali Bashar, 22, fled to Iraq after killing Susanna Feldmann in a field near her home in Wiesbaden last May, in a murder that was seized upon by the populist critics of Angela Merkel’s migration policies.

Yesterday Mr Bashar, who was extradited to Germany by the Kurdish authorities, appeared for the first day of his trial, watched by Susanna’s mother.

He said he had throttled the teenager after she hurt herself falling over and threatened to tell the police he had injured her. “I held her, my hand around her neck,” he said. “I do not know how it… </s> BERLIN — A rejected Iraqi asylum-seeker accused of murdering and raping a 14-year-old local girl has gone on trial in Germany, in a case that fueled tensions over migration.

The 22-year-old Ali Bashar is accused of assaulting and killing Susanna Feldman in the western city of Wiesbaden in May. Bashar and his family abruptly left a home for asylum applicants in Germany after the killing, and he was later extradited from Iraq.

Bashar’s trial opened at the state court in Wiesbaden on Tuesday and is scheduled to last at least until early May.

He is believed to have arrived in Germany in October 2015, at the height of the migrant influx to the country, and was appealing the rejection of his asylum application at the time of the killing. </s> (Hatha al-Youm | Iraq News )- ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A failed Iraqi Kurdish asylum seeker in Germany has confessed to a court that he murdered a German teen, but denied charges that he raped her.“My vision went black and then it happened,” Ali Bashar, 22, told a German court on Tuesday. “I don’t know how it could have happened.”Prosecutors in Germany charged Bashar in January for beating and raping 14-year-old Susanna Feldman on May 23, 2018. His trial began on March 11.Related Article: Iraqi Kurdish man charged for rape, murder of German teen Susanna FeldmanThe Feldman murder, dubbed the “Susanna Case,” sparked controversy across Germany regarding the country’s migrant policy. Millions of immigrants from various countries have come to Germany since a 2015 decision 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.Following the murder, Bashar fled Germany to the Kurdistan Region before police in the Duhok governorate arrested him after Berlin issued an arrest warrant. He later admitted to Kurdish authorities that he killed Feldman.Duhok city police chief Tariq Ahmed told Kurdistan 24 in June that the suspect had confessed to murdering Feldman following interrogation by Kurdish security authorities.According to Ahmed, Bashar and the German teen were friends who were “on a trip to the woods” where “they consumed a lot of alcohol and drugs” before getting into an argument, during which the girl tried to call the police.Fearing a severe charge if the police showed up since Feldman was under 18, Ahmed said the Bashar “choked her and buried her beneath the dirt.”After his confession, the Iraqi Kurdish man was deported back to Germany and taken to a Frankfurt jail.Although Bashar denies that he raped the 14-year-old, an autopsy of Feldman’s body revealed signs of a violent and sexual attack.The trial is expected to last until May as the 22-year-old is also charged with the rape of an 11-year-old at a refugee home where he lived in Wiesbaden, western Germany.Editing by John J. Catherine </s> BERLIN: Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq detained a 20-year-old Iraqi man on Friday on suspicion of raping and murdering a 14-year-old Jewish girl in Germany, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said.

Seehofer told reporters the Kurdish security forces had taken him into custody early on Friday at the request of the German police, who identified him as Ali Bashar. He had been living in Germany as a refugee since 2015, German media said.

The case has galvanised Germany at a time when its decision to take in large numbers of migrants and asylum seekers during Europe's 2015 migrant crisis is already stirring a political backlash. Many politicians are calling for new rules to make it easier to deport immigrants thought to be violent.

The victim, Susanna Feldman, was Jewish, although police said there was no evidence her religion had been a factor in the crime, and the Central Council of Jews in Germany cautioned against attributing any anti-Semitic motive to her attacker.

"I am pleased to announce a successful manhunt in the case of Susanna F.," Seehofer told reporters after a meeting with state interior ministers.

The teenager, from the city of Mainz near Frankfurt, was reported missing on May 22. She was found dead on Wednesday in a wooded area near train tracks in Wiesbaden on the opposite bank of the Rhine, near a refugee centre where the suspected attacker had lived, police said. An autopsy showed she had been the victim of a sexual and violent attack.

Police told reporters on Thursday that Bashar had likely fled with his family to Erbil, Iraq, several days ago. They said they had set up a special call centre for tips from the public, and had issued releases in Arabic and Turkish.

Joachim Stamp, integration minister in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, called on broadcaster ZDF for a recurring, quarterly migration summit of officials from the federal government, the 16 states and local officials.

Stamp said it was crucial to accelerate the asylum process and to expand the list of countries to which rejected asylum seekers could be deported.

The Iraqi suspect was already under investigation for a suspected robbery. He was appealing a December 2016 decision by German authorities to reject his asylum application.

Germany does not have a general extradition agreement with Iraq but must negotiate such moves on an individual basis, said foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Adebahr. She declined to comment on the specific case of Bashar. </s> (Hatha al-Youm | Iraq News )- BERLIN,— The trial of Ali Bashar, accused of raping and killing a teenage girl, has commenced under tight security. The defendant has confessed to the murder but has denied the rape charge.A 22-year-old man confessed to strangling a teenage girl to death at the opening of his murder trial on Tuesday in the western German city of Wiesbaden, but denied that he had raped her beforehand.The defendant, an Iraqi Kurdish asylum seeker identified as Ali Bashar, told the court that he killed the 14-year-old jewish schoolgirl Susanna Maria Feldman in May 2018.“Everything went black and then it happened,” Ali Bashar said through an interpreter. “I don’t know how it could have happened.”Ali Bashar, who fled from Iraqi Kurdistan with his family in 2015, also apologized to the parents of Susanna Maria Feldman, saying he knew that his “apology can’t make anything right again.”Denies rapeIn his confession, Ali Bashar insisted that he and Susanna Maria Feldman had consensual sex before she was killed.Prosecutors allege that the man forced the girl to have sex with him and then killed her after she threatened to go to the police. Afterward, according to prosecutors, he and an unknown accomplice buried her body before he allegedly used her phone to text her mother that she was in Paris.When her remains were found two weeks later, Ali Bashar and his family had left Germany for Iraq. He was then arrested by Kurdish security forces and was taken back to Germany. despite the absence of a formal extradition treaty between Baghdad and Berlin.Heavy securityThe case has ignited the immigration debate in Germany, with the nations far right using Ali Bashar as a symbol of a threat allegedly posed by asylum seekers from the Middle East.Several dozen protesters demonstrated outside the courthouse in Wiesbaden, where the crime took place, displaying a sign reading “No Leniency for Muslims.”A verdict in the trial is not expected until May. Ali Bashar faces life imprisonment if found guilty and could be deported back to Iraq, though he will likely serve half of a prison sentence in Germany. He also faces a separate trial from March 19 where he has been charged with twice raping an 11-year-old girl.Copyright © 2019, respective author or news agency, dw.com | Ekurd.netComments Comments </s> An Iraqi man goes on trial in Germany Tuesday accused of the rape and murder of a teenage girl that inflamed anti-immigrant tensions amid a mass influx of asylum seekers.

The accused, Ali Bashar, 22, left Germany for northern Iraq shortly after the May 2018 crime but was brought back in a mission joined personally by federal police chief Dieter Romann.

Bashar's trial for the rape-murder of 14-year-old schoolgirl Susanna Maria Feldman will start under tight security at 0830 GMT in the city of Wiesbaden.

To Germany's far right, the alleged killer, who is also accused of raping an 11-year-old girl in a separate case, has become a symbol of the threat allegedly posed by the wave of newcomers.

Before the trial, the anti-Islam Alternative for Germany (AfD) party again blamed Chancellor Angela Merkel and her grand coalition or "GroKo" government for Susanna's death.

"The problem isn't 'the right' but the knife-man immigration caused by the GroKo that has caused ever more bloody crimes," the party wrote in a Facebook post.

The AfD became the biggest opposition party when it entered parliament in late 2017, riding a wave of public anger over sexual assaults and other violent crimes committed by some recent migrants.

In another case last year, the fatal stabbing of a German man in the eastern city of Chemnitz, allegedly by immigrants, sparked outbursts of mob violence in which far-right extremists hunted people of foreign appearance through the streets.

Bashar, along with his parents and five siblings, first arrived in Germany in 2015, the year that saw the peak of the migrant influx which would bring more than one million people to Europe's top economy.

His request for asylum was rejected in December 2016, but -- in a case critics label as symptomatic of an overwhelmed and dysfunctional system -- he obtained a temporary residence permit pending his appeal.

In May last year, Bashar allegedly beat, raped and strangled Susanna to death in a wooded area near his refugee shelter in Wiesbaden.

Her body was then buried in a shallow grave covered with leaves, twigs and soil.

When her body was found two weeks later, Bashar and his family had left Germany for Arbil, northern Iraq.

However following a public outcry, he was arrested by Kurdish security forces and German federal police hauled Bashar back from Iraq.

Despite the absence of a formal extradition treaty between Iraq and Germany, Bashar was put on a flight to Germany, with pictures of him disembarking under heavy police guard making front pages.

Bashar also faces charges for a park robbery in which he allegedly beat, strangled and threatened a man with a knife to steal his watch, bag, phone and bank card.

He faces a separate trial from March 19, accused of having twice raped an 11-year-old girl -- once in April 2018 after locking her in his room, and again near a supermarket carpark the following month.

Prosecutors have also laid charges against an Afghan youth who was living in the same refugee shelter, Mansoor Q., who was believed to be aged at least 14 at the time, for also raping the 11-year-old girl.

And prosecutors have said Bashar's younger brother -- who is believed to be in Iraq, according to media reports -- also took part in a violent sexual assault against the younger girl. </s> BERLIN
• An Iraqi accused of raping and murdering a teenage girl in Germany is facing trial in a case that has inflamed anti-migrant tensions amid an influx of asylum seekers.

The schoolgirl was attacked in May last year and the accused, Ali Bashar, 22, left Germany for northern Iraq shortly after. He was brought back in a mission in which federal police chief Dieter Romann was involved personally.

Bashar's trial for the rape and murder of 14-year-old Susanna Maria Feldman started yesterday under tight security in the city of Wiesbaden.

To Germany's far-right, the alleged killer, who is also accused of raping an 11-year-old girl in a separate case, has become a symbol of the threat allegedly posed by the wave of newcomers.

Before the trial, the anti-Islam Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party again blamed Chancellor Angela Merkel and her grand coalition or "GroKo" government for Susanna's death.

The AfD, in a Facebook post, said: "The problem isn't 'the right' but the knife-man immigration caused by the GroKo that has caused ever more bloody crimes."

The AfD became the biggest opposition party when it entered Parliament in late 2017, riding a wave of public anger over sexual assaults and other violent crimes committed by some recent migrants.

In another case last year, the fatal stabbing of a German man in the eastern city of Chemnitz - allegedly by immigrants - sparked an outbreak of mob violence in which far-right extremists hunted down people who looked like foreigners on the streets.

Bashar, along with his parents and five siblings, first arrived in Germany in 2015, the year that saw the peak of the immigrant influx that would bring more than one million people to Germany, Europe's top economic power.

His request for asylum was rejected in December 2016, but he obtained a temporary residence permit pending his appeal.

In May last year, Bashar allegedly beat, raped and strangled Susanna to death in a wooded area near his refugee shelter in Wiesbaden.

Her body was then buried in a shallow grave and covered with leaves, twigs and soil.

When her body was found two weeks later, Bashar and his family had left Germany for Arbil in Iraq. After a public outcry, Bashar was arrested by Kurdish security forces, and the German federal police hauled him back from Iraq.

Despite the absence of a formal extradition treaty between Iraq and Germany, Bashar was put on a flight to Germany, with pictures of him disembarking from the plane under heavy police guard making the front pages of newspapers.

Bashar also faces charges over a robbery in which he allegedly beat, strangled and threatened a man with a knife in a park, to steal his watch, bag, phone and bank card. </s> BAGHDAD/BERLIN - Iraqi police said on Saturday that a 20-year-old Iraqi man had admitted to the rape and murder of 14-year-old Susanna Feldman in Germany, where the case has stoked the immigration debate.



The Jewish teenager from Mainz near Frankfurt was found dead on Wednesday in a wooded area in Wiesbaden, near a refugee center where the alleged attacker had lived, German police said.





An autopsy showed she had been the victim of a sexual and violent attack. Police said there was no evidence her religion had been a factor and the Central Council of Jews in Germany cautioned against attributing any antisemitic motive.German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Friday Kurdish security forces had taken the suspect, identified by German authorities as Ali Bashar, into custody on Friday."I ordered three officers to investigate the case. After seven hours, the officers were able to identify the location of the accused murderer and arrest him," local police chief Tariq Ahmed told Rudaw television.Ahmed said that the suspect had confessed to raping and killing the German teenager during interrogation by Kurdish security authorities. German Bild newspaper reported that Bashar and Feldman argued before he attacked and killed her.German newspaper Wiesbadener Kurier reported that Bashar was expected to be extradited to Germany on Saturday. A spokesman for Germany's federal police declined to comment on the report.Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to take in large numbers of asylum seekers during Europe's 2015 migrant crisis has stirred a political backlash, with many politicians calling for new rules to make it easier to deport immigrants.Bashar had been living in Germany as a refugee since 2015, German media have reported.Police, who set up a special call center for tips from the public and issued releases in Arabic and Turkish, told reporters on Thursday that Bashar had likely fled to Erbil in Iraq. </s> The German government said a young Iraqi man suspected in the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Jewish schoolgirl in western Germany has been arrested in his homeland.

The Interior Ministry said 20-year-old Ali Bashar was arrested by Kurdish security forces in northern Iraq early Friday at the request of German police.

The body of the girl, named as Susanna Maria Feldman, who had been missing since May 22, was found Wednesday buried on the outskirts of the western German city of Wiesbaden.

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Bashar was a suspect in a string of previous offenses in the area, including a robbery at knifepoint. The dpa news agency reported that the victim knew Bashar’s brother.

He is believed to have arrived in Germany in October 2015, at the height of the migrant influx to Germany, and was appealing the rejection of his asylum application.

Police said a 13-year-old refugee boy went to a police station in Wiesbaden on Sunday and told officers the girl had been raped and killed, and named the Iraqi as a possible perpetrator.

Germany’s Central Council of Jews said Feldman was a member of the Jewish community in Mainz, near Wiesbaden. It called for a thorough investigation and warned in a statement against “premature conclusions.”

The Jewish community of Mainz reacted to the tragedy with shock and grief.

“I am as shocked, sad, and aghast about the violent death of Susanna as one can be,” Rabbi Aharon Ran Vernikovsky, who leads the Mainz Jewish community, told the Juedische Allgemeine weekly, adding that the community would do everything in its power to help and support her family.

The case has preoccupied German media for several days. News of the discovery of Feldman’s body’s near neighboring Wiesbaden made headlines nationwide, though most newspapers did not initially mention the fact that she was Jewish.

On Thursday afternoon, the Central Council of Jews in Germany confirmed that the victim was Jewish and expressed its condolences to her friends and family.

“A young life was ended in a gruesome fashion,” the statement read. “Our deepest sympathies are with family and friends. Susanna was a member of the Jewish Community Mainz.”

Previous killings by asylum-seekers in Germany have fanned tensions over the influx of more than a million migrants in 2015 and 2016, an issue that helped the far-right Alternative for Germany enter the German parliament last year.

The surge of migrants also sparked a rash of attacks on asylum-seekers’ homes, which has since tapered off.

In one case, two men were convicted Thursday in the southwestern city of Landau of setting fire to a home being built for asylum-seekers in the nearby town of Herxheim in 2015. They both received probation.

Raphael Ahren contributed to this report.
Ali Bashar confesses in court in Germany to killing teenager Susanna Feldmann. Bashar is a failed asylum seeker from Iraq. The case prompted national debate and a pledge by Angela Merkel to call for improvements to the deportation system in Germany. Counterterror police traveled to Iraq in order to return him to Germany, as he had already been deported when he was identified in connection to the murder; Iraq has no extradition treaty with Germany.