BERLIN (AP) – A German court has convicted a rejected Iraqi asylum-seeker of raping and murdering a 14-year-old local girl and sentenced him to life in prison.
Ali Bashar’s conviction by the Wiesbaden state court on Wednesday followed a four-month trial in a case that fueled tensions over migration. News agency dpa reported that the court ruled there was a “particular severity of guilt,” meaning that he likely won’t be released after 15 years as is common in Germany.
The 22-year-old Bashar was convicted of assaulting and murdering Susanna Feldman in Wiesbaden in May 2018.
Bashar and his family abruptly left a home for asylum applicants in Germany after the killing, and he was later extradited from Iraq. Bashar is believed to have arrived in Germany in October 2015.