Mistaken suspect in Berlin attack says he now fears for his life

BERLIN: Naveed Baloch, a Pakistani asylum-seeker wrongly arrested for the Berlin truck attack on a Christmas market that killed 12 and wounded 48 others earlier this month, says that he now fears for his life in Germany, according to a British newspaper.

Hours after the attack in Berlin on December 19, German authorities had identified a Pakistani asylum seeker, Naveed B., as a suspect in the attack.

In his exclusive interview to The Guardian, Baloch, who remains in hiding, said he no longer felt safe in a country, he had sought refuge in.

After being wrongly arrested, the 24-year-old man said the investigators undressed him, took photographs and blood samples. "When I resisted, they started slapping me."

Over two days and one night in detention, Baloch recalled his ordeal, he was only given tea and biscuits, adding, "But I could not eat. The biscuits were disgusting, and the tea was cold."

He said that he slept on a wooden bed without a mattress, with his hands tied behind his back on the first night. I was already told on the night of the attack that they had doubts I was the man they were looking for, the Pakistani asylum-seeker said.

By the time, he had been told he was free to go, the police were already looking for Anis Amri, a Tunisian whose documents were found from the truck that had ploughed into the Berlin market and was later shot dead by police in Milan.

His non-appearance since his name was cleared has only fuelled speculation – both in Germany and Pakistan – that he might have somehow been involved in the attack.

He has already been accused of sexual assault, a charge he vehemently denies.

Baloch has been clearly told by police that his life might be in danger if he returns to his refugee shelter, possibly from compatriots there, who might view him as an enemy of the state, or possibly from German rightwing extremists.

He is compelled to stay on his own in the secret location provided for him by the police for the next two months, living on meals-on-wheels and having to inform the police every time he steps outside.

Baloch said that he had been suffering from insomnia since his arrest, and while he is visited by a few fellow countrymen, he felt very alone and intensely anxious, at night in particular.

The 24-year-old says he hopes, in the meantime, that one day people will stop associating his name with that terrible attack. "Thank goodness they found the man who did it," he adds.