Barcelona police | Photo: Flickr/Hellebardius
An Algerian man attacked a police station in Cornellà, a suburb of Barcelona, on Monday (20 August) morning, allegedly due to shame of his sexual orientation.
Catalan regional police, the Mossos d’Esquadra, are calling the incident an act of terrorism.
Abdelouahab Taib, 29, entered the precinct in the early hours of Monday morning, around 6 am. According to reports, he was shouting ‘Allah’ and other Arabic phrases while wielding a knife.
When he attacked a female officer, she shot and killed him.
The Spanish High Court is considering the possibility of a terrorist attack, but are ‘giving priority to the theory that he acted due to “personal motivations channeled from a religious point of view”‘.
Taib had no prior criminal record and had been in Spain for a number of years. He lived with and married a Spanish woman, thus granting him a Spanish Foreign Identity Number (NIE).
According to reports, he left the following message for his partner before going to the station: ‘I’m going, inshallah, to the Great Place up there.’
Finding peace between religion and sexuality
Taib’s wife gave a statement to the police. In it, she said they had been experiencing problems since Taib revealed he was gay.
When she told him she was planning on leaving him, he allegedly started to have suicidal thoughts. His wife further said he was afraid the Muslim community would find out his sexual orientation, and thus bring him shame and dishonor.
She also said he had begun to show deeper commitment to his religion and she suspected he married her only for residency papers.
A police search of their apartment discovered no firearms or explosives of any kind.
The public prosecutor of the case believes Taib underwent the attack ‘with the intention of killing or dying while killing’. Further, the prosecutor believes Taib was seeking salvation for the sin of being gay.
H/t: El Pais
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