Black German MP decries hate as he shares chilling death threat

Berlin, June 8 (IANS/DPA) Karamba Diaby, the first black German parliamentarian born in Africa, published on his Instagram profile a death threat against him and vowed to "fight back."

"I will not be intimidated. I will fight back," Diaby wrote in the post. For that reason the Social Democrat said he decided to "publish the latest of the many threats and racist hate messages against me."

Diaby's staff are also threatened in the letter, which is filled with grisly imagery and slurs.

The politician was born in Senegal in 1961 and received a scholarship to study in the former East Germany while in his 20s, according to a biography on his website.

He worked his way up through state politics in Saxony-Anhalt before being elected in 2013 to the Bundestag, where he serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Diaby's constituency office in the central city of Halle has been the target of several attacks, including a door being set on fire in May 2023.

In the social media post on Friday, Diaby said that the tone around politics has become harsher: "For me, the level of hatred and agitation has reached a new level. I now encounter it every day in the news and commentaries, but also in the German Bundestag."

He said racial and ethnic minorities, Jews, Muslims, women and the queer community regularly faced "hatred and violence" in Germany.

The lawmaker especially criticized the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

"The hatred that the AfD sows every day with its misanthropic narratives is reflected in concrete psychological and physical violence! This jeopardizes cohesion in our society," Diaby wrote.

Source: IANS