The doubt concerns this individual’s claim to be Christian. He is currently in a psychiatric hospital. According to the site Present, Christians from the East think that it is not a question of him being a Christian, as he claimed when he arrived in Europe ten years ago, but of an Muslim who has been passing himself off as a Christian to more easily obtain refugee status.
Some information reports that the attacker has been positively recognized by Syrians living in Al-Hasakah (northern Syria), that his name is Selwan Majd, and that he is a Mulsim. The man is said to have left Syria in 2012, fleeing the intervention of the Syrian army in this region.
After a first unsuccessful attempt to obtain political asylum, he reportedly went to Turkey and declared himself a Christian there. It was in Turkey that he met his future wife who was living in Sweden, but was visiting her family. He managed to reach Sweden and obtain, at the end of 2013, a residence permit, but was not able to acquire Swedish nationality.
According to Christians in Syria, Syrian Christians do not use the name Abd al-Massih “servant of the Messiah,” or “slave of Christ,” for their children. That first name is rather of Coptic origin.
In autumn 2022, the presumed Selwan Madj, went to Switzerland to obtain asylum there, which was not possible; neither was it possible in France or Italy, because the EU, as well as Switzerland, only grants this status in one country, and he already had it in Sweden.
According to the Daily Mail, his ex-wife had warned the French and Swiss authorities of her ex-husband’s false identity. Msgr. Pascal Gollnisch, director of L’Œuvre d’Orient reportedly said that he was unknown in the Syrian Christian community of Annecy. He also seems to be unrecognized in the same community in Sweden, where he lived for quite a long time.
Moreover, no baptismal certificate in his name has been discovered, either in Syria or in Sweden. For Eastern Christians, he is not a Christian. They recall that many Islamic terrorists, after the defeat of Daesch, spread throughout the West by posing as Christians, assuming false identities.
Since his arrest, the torturer prefers to lock himself in total silence. This is either to avoid being identified, or, and this obviously cannot be ruled out, because he might be suffering from a severe psychiatric illness.
The emotion that this terrible tragedy might arouse in Christian circles in Syria is understandable: to see a member of their community act in such a way – even if this man is mentally ill. This is why they sought to find out more. However, it will be necessary to wait for further investigation to confirm or invalidate this information.
The site Present reports serious doubts about the identity of the Annecy “stabber,” this individual attacked very young children and the elderly, injuring them seriously or very seriously. Thank God none of the victims are in mortal danger.