Alternative for Germany (AfD) politician Marie-Thérèse Kaiser has now been convicted for publishing gang rape statistics in response to news that Afghan migrants would be moved to her district.
The 27-year-old politician was found guilty in the Verden regional court in Lower Saxony on Monday for “inciting hatred” against local Afghan workers.
She is ordered to pay a fine of €6,000 and being charged €60 a day for 100 days. She will also have a criminal record.
The case relates back to a post from August 2021, in which she made a post on social media, writing: “Afghanistan refugees; Hamburg SPD mayor for ‘unbureaucratic’ admission; Welcoming culture for gang rape?”
The politician linked an article showing that Afghans in Germany feature particularly high levels of gang rape activity. Kaiser was responding in 2021 to Hamburg’s First Mayor, Peter Tschentscher (SPD), who announced that 200 Afghan workers would be arriving in Hamburg. Kaiser protested this decision with her statistics, saying she was concerned about immigration and the potential for rape from “culturally alien masses.”
Kaiser had perhaps mistakenly believed resorting to data would protect her, which shows that foreigners are represented in half of all gang rape cases, according to official government statistics. Afghans’ roles in serious crimes, including rape and gang rape, are tremendously high relative to their population.
The case has sparked international attention, with major X accounts reacting to the news of the conviction, including X’s owner, Elon Musk, with at least two of the posts generating over 40 million views.
