Norway 2022
06/04/2022: The Court of Appeals have reduced the sentence of the Norwegian-Pakistani IS returnee who was repatriated to Norway in January 2020 and sentenced to three and a half years in prison in May 2021, to two years and a half of imprisonment. It was mentioned throughout her trial that began on February 8, that she may have been victim of sexual and domestic abuse. She appealed the verdict to the Supreme Court. (Source)
31/05/2022: A 22-year-old Norwegian student born in Norway from Pakistani parents was arrested in Bulgaria and requested to be extradited. He is charged of supporting the cause of Al-Qaeda and of having published magazines aimed at young Western Muslims, urging them to commit terrorist attacks in Europe. According to the indictment, he had been active in the newly established group Hurras al-Tawheed for about a year on social media channels associated with the group Al-Qaeda. The same day his younger brother was arrested in Oslo for the same accusations and has been remanded in custody for 14 days with a restraining order. The detention is based on the risk of evidence being lost. Both are charged with participation in a terrorist organization, specifically section 136a of the Criminal Code, which applies to "anyone who forms, participates in, recruits members or provides financial or other material support to a terrorist organization". (Source)
16/06/2022: PST updated their Terrorist Threat Assessment according to which the threat level in Norway is still moderate, but that there is a slight downward adjustment in the terrorist threat from extreme Islamists in Norway. Islamist terrorism is now deemed unlikely as low as under 40 percent likely, that extreme Islamists will attempt to carry out terrorist acts in Norway in the next 18 months. The threat will primarily come from individuals with connections to digital networks of sympathizers rather than terrorist organizations. Any extreme Islamist terrorist attack in Norway will most likely be carried out by young extremists acting on their own, using simple means of attack. The most relevant targets will be places where people gather or symbolic targets, such as police and defense personnel or people associated with mockery of Islam. (Source)
21/06/2022: A Norwegian man in his 40's has been arrested in Spain on suspicion of terrorist links and spreading propaganda associated with IS. He previously attempted to move to a conflict zone in Syria or Iraq with three others to fight as part of a terrorist organization. The other three are said to have previously participated in violent attacks, one of which is linked to terrorist acts in Grozny, Chechnya, where 21 people lost their lives. Being of of Iraqi background, he came to Spain from Norway in March 2021. (Source)
25/06/2022: An Iranian from Sanandaj who lived in Norway since 1991 and belonging to an Islamist network operating for IS assaulted with a gun the local LGBT pride event hosted in Oslo by shouting "Allah Ackbar". He started the onslaught in the night at the London Pub then moved to the bar Per på hjørnet and a takeaway restaurant while shooting on the overcrowded sidewalks. He was thereafter neutralized by authorities leaving 2 victims and 21 injured. The shooter was identified as Zaniar Matapour who has a "history of violence and threats", as well as "mental health issues". PST immediately qualified the attack as "an act of Islamist terrorism". (Source: Défense et sécurité internationale ; Contre-terrorisme du 16/06/22 au 15/18/22 ; 161 ; 2022 ; pp.12-13)
It was determined in the aftermath of the Oslo shootings that Zaniar Matapour was in touch with Norwegian-Pakistani Jihadist Arfan Bhatti who was once a prominent figure of Norwegian Jihadism and also one of the main figures of the former Profetens Ummah movement convicted in 2006 of shooting at a Synagogue and charged with plotting to blow up the Israeli and American embassies in Oslo. Although he grew up in Norway, he reportedly got radicalized after few years spent in Pakistan in the 2000's. On June 14, 2022 he posted messages on Facebook calling for the killing of gays quoting the Qoran. Bhatti currently lives in Pakistan yet he and Matapour were previously neighbors at some point. (Source)
28/06/2022: The Norwegian student who was arrested in Bulgaria at the end of May and charged with terrorist participation, has been extradited to Norway where he agreed to be remanded in custody. (Source)
29/06/2022: Ibraahim M. Weli Sheikh from Skien whose trial for terrorist activities and propaganda started in May 2021, has ultimately been sentenced by the Supreme Court to thirteen years and ten months in prison for terrorist participation and attempted terrorism, thus increasing the sentence received in the Court of Appeal. The Court acknowledged him as a significant contributor to IS online. Furthermore, he shared recipes for making and using Molotov cocktails and firebombs and assisted in producing a film that was to be distributed on social media to encourage “brothers” to come to Denmark to carry out terror attacks. (Source)
20/07/2022: In the aftermath of the Oslo shootings, The Norwegian Police Directorate has received consent from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security that the police can still be armed for a period of up to 3 months, starting from July 20, 2022. (Source)
15/08/2022: The Oslo shootings have underscored flaws within the Norwegian security apparatus as there was a flagrant lack of communication between authorities prior to the attack that failed to prevent it. Consequently, the Norwegian Government updated the National Counterterrorism Strategy that was drafted in July 2021. This new version will set the Norwegian security framework until 2024 at least. Although it preserves the recommendations made in the last draft, it mostly emphasizes on cooperation and communication between stakeholders to ensure an enhanced detection and prevention of threats through collective efforts. (Source)
09/09/2022: Norwegian authorities intend to expel from the country a Somali woman who was involved in an alarming Islamist environment around Arfan Bhatti. In March 2019, the woman was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison for participating in the terrorist organization IS that she tried to join in Syrian back in November 2017, but she has completed this sentence in March 2021 yet remained in Oslo in municipal housing. As the first woman to be convicted of participation in a terrorist organization in Norway, Norwegian authorities claim she is a threat to the country. (Source)
23/09/2022: Oslo Police District has officialy acknowledged that Arfan Bhatti is now charged with complicity in Oslo Shootings and is also charged with violating the terrorism provision. As he is wanted internationally, first contacts with the Pakistani police for assistance in locating and arresting him where made thereafter but formal request to extradite him were submitted in November 2022. (Source)
26/09/2022: Two new suspects were arrested charged with involvement in the Oslo shootings. The first one is a 30-year-old Norwegian citizen who has previously been convicted of illegal possession of the MP40 submachine gun in May 2017. It is the same type of weapon that Zaniar Matapour used during the mass shooting. The environment linked to Bhatti and the terrorist group Profetens Ummah were mentioned in his judgment. The second suspect is a Somali citizen in his 40's also known to the police from previous incidents. Both have been formally charged with complicity in a terrorist act yet denies all charges. (Source)
04/11/2022: The 19-year-old man arrested in Oslo in May 2022 while his brother was intercepted in Bulgaria, was released by the Oslo District Court. PST appealed the decision, and the Borgarting Court of Appeal ruled that he can be detained for four weeks with mail and visitation control. (Source)
20/12/2022: The Supreme Court ruled that the woman who returned from Syria and who was sentenced by the Court of Appeals in April 2021, could indeed be punished for participation in a terrorist organization but assessed that the most apropriate sentence would be one year and four months of imprisonment considering that she lived in a forced situation for over five years, in the period after she arrived in Syria. (Source)