Norway 2024
21/02/2024: A woman of Spanish background in her 40's who was arrested in Oslo in January 2024 and put in custody at Bredtveit Women's Prison, was extradited to Spain after living in Norway with her children for ten years. The woman was sought by Spanish authorities who charged her with participating in the terrorist group IS which she allegedly swore allegiance to, and she shared online content for recruiting new followers to the terrorist group. Moreover, it was stated that she can make explosives. She had already been arrested upon her return to Spain back in August 2023 yet she sneaked back to Norway via France in November as she presumed Spanish authorities would not request her extradition. (Source)
15/02/2024: PST has published the updated version of their yearly terrorism threat assessment for 2024. Although Islamism and the Far-Right are both depicted as the main national threats, PST still acknowledges that the former is more worrisome despite the lack of local support aside of individuals inspired by Al-Qaeda and IS. Much emphasis is made on the current context of the war between Israel and Palestine which may be conducive to further radicalization among people offended by the hardships of the Palestinians that are massively spread and exploited by Islamist propaganda. Norway pays much attention to the deteriorating security context of Sweden and Denmark which are both explicitly targeted by terrorist organizations in their official statements. (Source)
12/03/2024: Zaniar Matapour stands trial for committing the Oslo shootings back in June 2022. He was ultimately found guilty on July 4, 2024 and sentenced to thirty years in prison, with a minimum time of twenty years. This is the harshest condemnation ever drawn from authorities in Norway for terrorism charges. However, Matapour appealed the verdict later on. (Source)
03/05/2024: Pakistani authorities finally confirmed and carried out the extradition of Arfan Bhatti for his involvement in the Oslo shootings after much delays since a previous aproval in February 2024. Following his landing at Gardermoen, Bhatti was arrested and taken straight to Kongsvinger Prison where his period of custody is extended repeatedly as Norwegian authorities fear risks of evidence loss and of evasion. However he is scheduled to appear in court as a witness. (Source)
13/06/2024: Norwegian PST kickstarted a campaign to tackle a thorny and alarming issue of Youth radicalization since a network of a dozen of children and teenagers between 12 and 17 year-old were spotted praising terror and murder of homsexuals on encrypted forums such as Discord and Telegram. They were allegedly dragged into those network through TikTok. This is quite alarming considering that the Oslo shootings during a LGBT pride event occured only two years ago. As PST deems that many young people think of it as trolling, and may not understand the seriousness or how the content actually approaches the criminal law in practice, no criminal charges have been filed regarding the threats made by the teenagers. According to the clues collected by PST montitoring and investigation activities, the network spreads Far-Right extremist speech and propaganda online. (Source)
However, PST has reportedly had a double-digit number of extremism cases involving children in the Western Police District alone so far and those statistics applies to both Far-Right extremism and Islamism. (Source)
29/06/2024: The Norwegian man who was arrested in Spain back in June 2022 on suspicion of terrorist activities, is now charged for committing two violations of the country's terrorism laws and the prosecution is asking for a seven-year prison sentence. He allegedly trained himself to carry out terrorist acts, as well as radicalized himself, through the internet and finally, he spread Jihadist propaganda material on the messaging service Telegram. His lawyer reportedly confirmed that charges have been filed in the case. Police found large amounts of Jihadist material on the man's cellphone, including videos of terrorist attacks and weapons manuals. The suspect denies all charges and claims he sought such content online out of curiosity to stay informed, especially during the 2020 coronavirus lockdown. It was confirmed by Deputy Director Helene Sandbu Ryeng at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that he is receiving consular assistance "in line with normal practice". (Source)
08/10/2024: Norwegian PST has raised its assessment of the threat of a terrorist attack to "High", the second highest level on a five-point scale. Previously, the threat of a terrorist attack in Norway was at moderate level. The level was raised primarily due to the escalation in the Middle East. According to the security police's assessment, the greatest threat of a terrorist attack is directed at targets related to Israel or Jews. At present, PST has no information that there are concrete plans to carry out terrorist acts against Norwegian targets. Consequently, the police are introducing temporary armament. Such measures were already briefly implemented to prevent terrorist acts against churches and Christian targets during Easter on March 27, 2024, then again on April 6, 2024 due to threats against Muslim religious communities. (Source)
Special advisor Siv Sørensen in the PST's Counterterrorism Department, stated that one of the two Swedes involved in the attack against the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen has unclear connection to Iran and Norway. (Source)
14/11/2024: Norway has lowered the level of national threat from "High" to "Medium". This decision was supported by a better identification of the threat looming over the Jewish community following the several attempts to assult the Israeli embassies in Sweden and Denmark throughout the year by Iran-linked actors related to the so-called criminal "Foxtrot" and "Loyal to Familia" networks. (Source)
02/12/2024: The National Center for Violence and Traumatic Stress (NKVTS) has reportedly undertaken "the world's longest study of a terrorist act" following the 2022 Oslo shootings which has attracted international attention. NKVTS kickstarted this research project in the aftermath of the 2011 Utøya massacre committed by Far-Right terrorist Anders Breivik, to accumulate solid knowledge about the effect the two terrorist attacks had on the survivors. The researchers involved in this initiative also benefitted from the studies conducted following terrorist attacks in several foreign countries, and had delegations from Australia and Canada. Consequently, this project allowed NKVTS to develop cutting-edge expertise in the follow-up and consequences of disasters and terrorist attacks. (Source)