Udo Ulfkotte, German political scientist and journalist, Died at 56

Udo Ulfkotte was born on January 20, 1960, and died on January 13, 2017.

He was a German journalist and political scientist.

Ulfkotte was an assistant editor for the German main daily newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) for several years.

He studied jurisprudence and politics at Freiburg and London.

He lived predominantly in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan, between 1986 and 1998

He was on the staff of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation from 1999 to 2003.

Ulfkotte won the civic prize of the Annette Barthelt Foundation in 2003.

He published a magazine called Whistleblower, which reports on topics not covered by the German media.

He had planned to run for the Hamburg local elections in 2008, as number two on the Centre Party’s list, but later withdrew in June/July 2007.

He announced he would found a new national party, on July 2007.

He was born into a Christian family, but by the age of 21, he abandoned Christianity and became an atheist.

After he went to live in Islamic countries, he converted to Islam while living in Herat, Afghanistan. He later left Islam and went back to Christianity.

Ulfkotte reverted to a conservative and nationalist view, occasionally expressing strong anti-immigrant or anti-Muslim opinions.

He died due to a heart attack.

Udo Ulfkotte passed away at 56 years old.