A hearse drives into the prison in Leipzig, eastern Germany on early Oct 13. A Syrian man arrested on suspicion of plotting a jihadist bomb attack on a Berlin airport was found dead in his cell on Oct 12, after an apparent suicide, sparking outrage over a ‘judicial scandal’. Jaber Albakr (inset), who was arrested two days earlier following a nationwide manhunt after police found explosives in his apartment, was discovered hanged in his jail cell in the eastern city of Leipzig. (AFP)

DRESDEN, Germany, Oct 13, (Agencies): A Syrian bomb plot suspect found hanged in his cell had not been deemed an “acute” suicide risk, German officials said Thursday as outrage grew over the judicial “fi- asco”. The death in custody follows an initially botched attempt to arrest Jaber al-Bakr last Saturday, which sparked a nationwide manhunt that ended only when three other Syrians caught him and handed him over to police on Monday.

Two days after Bakr’s dramatic capture, the 22-year-old was found hanged with his T-shirt in his jail cell in the eastern city of Leipzig. The death sparked cries of outrage and concern that Germany may never learn the plans for an attack on a Berlin airport Bakr had allegedly wanted to carry out in the name of the Islamic State group. Prison chief Rolf Jacob told journalists that a “very experienced psychologist” had interviewed Bakr and assessed that “there was no acute suicide risk”.

Although the detainee had begun a hunger strike following his imprisonment, he had been “quiet and calm, there was no indication of emotional issues”. The psychologist, who had no previous experience with terror suspects, had therefore suggested that the regular checks, which were initially set at 15 minute intervals, be reduced to half hourly from Tuesday, said Jacob. The suspect was nonetheless held in isolation as he was deemed to pose a potential threat to other inmates. “I am incredibly shocked and in disbelief that this could have happened,” Bakr’s lawyer Alexander Huebner told Bild daily.

ManipulatedHuebner said his client had already “smashed lamps and manipulated power points”, but “he was not under watch day and night, even though the suicide risk was known”. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the suicide had “obviously hampered investigations” into the alleged terror plot and posed a “setback in the search for other accomplices, backers, networks and such”. The incident showed a “complete loss of control by authorities” in Saxony, the conservative wing of the Social Democratic Party said in a statement. Greens party lawmaker Konstantin von Notz told Deutschlandfunk radio that a close look was needed to identify who was responsible for what he branded a “fiasco”. Debate has been raging over how jihadists should be monitored in custody. In neighbouring France, Salah Abdeslam, the suspect believed to be the last surviving member of the terror squad that killed 130 people in Paris in November, is held in isolation and continuously monitored by special guards.

AnxiousAuthorities are anxious to prevent any attempts at a jail break, but also suicide, as such suspects are deemed to be sitting on a gold mine of information on jihadists’ modus operandi. Meanwhile, Rolf Jacob, the head of the prison where 22-year-old bomb suspect Jaber Albakr was held, told reporters in Dresden that a trainee guard checked on the prisoner at 7:30 pm Wednesday, and that when he returned for another check at 7:45 pm he found Albakr hanging lifeless. Attempts were made to revive Albakr were unsuccessful, and a doctor declared him dead a half hour later, said Saxony Justice Minister Sebastian Gemkow. Facing widespread criticism that such a high-profile prisoner could take his own life, authorities said multiple precautions were taken.

“It should not have happened even though we did everything we could to prevent it,” Gemkow said. Among other things, Albakr was assessed by a psychologist with whom he discussed what impact his behavior in prison would have on his trial, leading her to believe he was considering his long-term future, Jacob said. As a precaution, he was given pants with no belt and was checked on at regular intervals. On the other hand, Jacob said Albakr had refused all food at the prison and had accepted only one glass of water, and had destroyed both a lighting fixture and an electrical outlet in his cell — actions that were believed to be vandalism and “not interpreted as a suicide attempt.” “It was clear that we were dealing with someone here where we had to work very carefully, and suicide risk played a role,” he said. Still, he said it would have been against German law to preventatively put him into a special cell designed for a prisoner assessed as an “acute, clearly visible suicide risk.”

Wolfgang Bosbach, a senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party and security expert, told n-tv that given his behavior, Albakr should have been under constant observation. In related news, German authorities are still investigating whether the Syrian bomb plot suspect who committed suicide in jail on Wednesday had accomplices, a senior state official said on Thursday. “We don’t know yet if there were people pulling the strings,” Klaus Fleischmann, chief public prosecutor in the state of Saxony, told a news conference. German media had earlier quoted investigation sources as saying that the suspect Jaber Albakr, 22, told investigators shortly before his suicide that three Syrians who handed him over to police were accomplices.