The man who on Thursday morning stabbed and injured three people, one of them critically, at the railway station in Winterthur, Switzerland, while shouting “Allahu akbar!”, is the Turkish Islamist Nesip Dedeler (31). He has been charged with terrorism.

The 31-year-old, who has been a naturalised Swiss citizen since 2009, had been active in the extremist former An’Nur mosque in Winterthur and spread propaganda for the Islamic State (IS) in 2015, reports Blick.

The authorities, with Zurich’s Director of Police as a central voice, describe the act as a “terrorist act”.

Neues zum Schweizer Terroristen

– Nesip Dedeler, 31
– Türke mit Schweizer Pass
– 2009 in Winterthur eingebürgert
– verbeitete IS-Propaganda, 2015 Anzeige
– 2024: wandert in Türkei aus "von Bildfläche verschwunden"
– 25. Mai 2026: meldet sich bei der Polizei, redet "wirre… pic.twitter.com/9mPZ3mNLoy

— Miró (@unblogd) May 28, 2026

Like most Islamist terrorists in Europe in recent years, Dedeler is also said to have made a stop in psychiatric care first.

According to the authorities, the 31-year-old man was considered to be “mentally disturbed”. On 25 May, he reported himself to the city police, says Marius Weyermann at the press conference. “He made confused statements,” says the police chief. He was admitted to Integrierte Psychiatrie Winterthur (IPW). This is also consistent with the observations of a neighbour, who told Blick that on Whit Sunday he saw police at Dedeler’s apartment.

As early as Tuesday, 26 May, he left IPW again and was once more reported missing by the police and brought back. On Wednesday, one day before the bloodbath at the station, a doctor diagnosed that Dedeler posed no danger to himself or others. He was free to leave the institution.

The Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (IZR) condemns Dedeler’s actions, Blick reports.