The Norwegian defense attorney for Mullah Krekar, a former refugee who later faced multiple charges tied to terrorism, has launched a new effort to bring Krekar “home” from a jail in Italy. Norwegian officials are not willing to cooperate.
“We’re working to get Krekar home to Norway,” his longtime defense attorney Brynjar Meling told TV2 late last week. “He still has his family here, and they are well-functioning Norwegian citizens with good jobs. So there is no reason he (Krekar) shouldn’t be able to return.”
Krekar, perhaps best known for threatening Erna Solberg when she was a government minister in the early 2000s, was in and out of courtrooms and prisons in Norway for years because of various charges and convictions against him. He initially came to Norway as a refugee from Iraq and was allowed to bring his family to Norway, too. He ended up violating the terms of his asylum several times, not least for his role as an Islamic guerrilla leader back in Iraq, and was on the US’ list of suspected terrorists.
Norway never felt able to send him back to Iraq, because he faced a death sentence there. Four years ago, though, Norway extradicted him to Italy where he’d been sentenced to 12-and-a-half years in prison for terror planning.
Meling has now sent a complaint to the United Nations in which he asks for help to be released from the Italian prison, on the grounds his rights were violated during the Italian court process that was carried out without Mulla being present. “We hope this will get Italian authorities to wake up and review their judgment, and whether there are grounds for releasing Krekar,” Meling said.
Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl has made it clear, however, that Krekar is not welcome back in Norway even if he is released by Italian authorities. “Mulla Krekar will not be allowed back in Norway,” she told TV2. “The government has no plans to contribute to his wish to return.”
“I view Krekar as a threat to national security, and think that must come first,” Mehl said. “He has been evicted for life and is subject to a ban on re-entry to Norway.” Her current Labour-Center government thus plans to keep the door closed. If the Conservatives regain power in next year’s election, with Erna Solberg back as prime minister, they’re likely to keep Krekar out, too.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
