Ahmed Odowaa, an asylum seeker from Somalia who helped stop a knife attacker in the German city of Aschaffenburg on January 22, will no longer face deportation to Italy.

That's according to Joachim Herrmann, interior minister of the German state of Bavaria, where Aschaffenburg is located. His announcement on Monday evening (April 7) contradicts previous media reports, which had stated that the 30-year-old Somali would have to leave Germany in the summer.

Since Odowaa is an important witness in the ongoing criminal proceedings against the alleged Aschaffenburg attacker, his stay in Germany will continue to be tolerated, confirmed the state's interior ministry. The authorities have issued Odowaa with a toleration order (known as a Duldung in German) in agreement with the judiciary.

Minister Herrmann on Monday reportedly also lauded Odowaa's courageous intervention: His "outstanding services to Aschaffenburg and Bavaria" deserve "recognition and our utmost respect." Herrmann said.

On January 22, Odowaa was in an Aschaffenburg park when he saw a 28-year-old Afghan attacking a group of toddlers with a kitchen knife. A 2-year-old boy died, and others were seriously injured. A 41-year-old man, who reportedly tried to protect the children, was stabbed and killed, too.

When the suspected perpetrator fled, Odowaa and other passers-by pursued him and told police the suspected attackers' whereabouts, which led to his arrest shortly after.

The Afghan was supposed to have left the country late last year, had a history of violent behavior and was undergoing psychiatric treatment, news sources reported at the time of his arrest.

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Praise and deportation notice

Odowaa has received plentiful praise for his courageous act. In addition to Interior Minister Herrmann, Bavaria's Premier Markus Söder reportedly thanked the Somali asylum seeker in writing for his "impressive example of civil courage" adding that he had shown "outstanding courage and determination".

What's more, Odowaa is to receive a medal from Söder in May for his commitment, according to a report in the local media Main Echo

However, Odowaa told the same media outlet that he'd received a notification from the foreigners' office that he needed to have left the country by July 8. Two people thereupon started collecting signatures via the platform change.org to stop his presumed deportation. By the time of publication, more than 60,000 people had signed the petition.

According to minister Herrmann, Odowaa had already been recognized as a refugee in Italy. Nevertheless, he had traveled on to Germany to apply for asylum in Germany again at the beginning of 2024. His asylum bid was rejected later that year. An appeal against the rejection also failed, news agency dpa reported.

"This is not provided for under current European and German law. That is why the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, which is responsible for this, rejected his asylum application," Herrmann explained, referring to the so-called Dublin procedure, whereby asylum cannot be granted again in another EU country. The procedure expects that asylum seekers apply for protection in the first country of entry after they enter the EU.

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Deportation 'based on misunderstanding' 

On Monday, the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior stated that reports of the Somali's imminent deportation were based on a "misunderstanding".

"The claim that Odowaa would have to leave the country by July 8, 2025, is based on a misunderstanding, as toleration orders (Duldung) or permits are regularly issued for a limited period of time and extended accordingly, as in this case," a ministry statement read.

According to the same statement, the Somali is to receive the prospect of remaining in Germany. To this end, the responsible immigration authority will reportedly grant him an employment permit. He would then be able to earn his own living and intensify his integration efforts.

The case of the Somali man is reminiscent of another migrant who also bravely stood in the way of a knife attacker: Chia Rabiei, a passer-by, tried to stop a man wielding a knife and killing three people in 2021 in the city of Würzburg, only 60 kilometers away from Aschaffenburg.

Rabiei, too, was threatened with deportation; but an administrative court in 2023 ruled that the Kurd, who has Iranian citizenship, could stay in Germany.

According to the Iranian's lawyer, the court reasoned at the time that the asylum seeker was threatened with problems in his home country of Iran due to his popularity in Germany, following his actions against the attacker. Rabiei was granted a residence permit for three years with the option to apply for naturalization thereafter.

with KNA, dpa