A man has been sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of driving his car into a crowd of people in Munich last year, killing two people.

The 25-year-old man, named only as Farhad N in line with German privacy laws, is an Afghan national, who prosecutors say deliberately drove his Mini into a trade union rally of around 1,400 people in the centre of the city on the morning of 13 February 2025.

He hit a 37-year-old woman and her two-year-old daughter, who both died in hospital shortly afterwards. More than 40 other people were injured, a number of them critically.

It was one of a number of attacks in Germany that have fuelled far-right rhetoric around migration.

The Munich Higher Regional Court ruled that the offence was of a particularly serious nature, which makes it considerably more difficult for Farhad N to be released on parole once he has served 15 years in prison.

He was convicted of two counts of murder, 23 counts of attempted murder and a number of other charges including grievous bodily harm.

The judge said Farhad N intended to attack and kill people in Germany arbitrarily in response to the situation in Islamic countries.

“In doing so, the defendant sought to commit an act pleasing to God and to prove himself to be a good Muslim in the eyes of Allah, himself and his family,” the judge said.

The prosecution said the defendant believed the attack was a necessary response to the actions of the US and other Western states in Gaza and Afghanistan. They argued that anger, disappointment and bitterness had also played a part.

The defence had called for a 15-year prison sentence and for Farhad N to be placed in a psychiatric hospital. They argued that their client had shown signs of a form of schizophrenia.