COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A Norwegian citizen initially from Iran was Friday charged with aggravated terrorism for the 2022 lethal taking pictures forward of an LGBTQ competition within the nightlife district of the capital, Oslo.
Two individuals had been killed and 9 severely wounded within the taking pictures at three areas, mainly outdoors the London Pub, a preferred homosexual bar, on June 25, 2022.
Proesecutor Sturla Henriksbø stated thatZainar Matapour, 44, fired 10 rounds with a machine gun and eight photographs with a handgun right into a crowd at a avenue nook within the nightlife district the place there have been a complete of 560 individuals. Earlier than that, he took “an oath of allegiance to the Islamic State group.”
“The assault precipitated nice concern,” Henriksbø stated. One of many victims was hit by 4 bullets, whereas the opposite one was killed by a single shot.
Matapour was arrested shortly after by bystanders and has has since been held on suspicion of being the shooter. Following the assault, a Pleasure parade was canceled, with the police saying they might not assure safety. Matapour has refused to talk to investigators.
One other prosecutor, Aud Kinsarvik Gravås, stated 4 different suspects had been linked to the taking pictures however they haven’t been charged because the investigation continues to be ongoing. Two of them are outdoors Norway. A type of suspected within the case is a number one Norwegian radical Islamist who’s in hiding in Pakistan. The whereabouts of the opposite one was not identified.
“We consider that it’ll take a while earlier than they return to Norway,” she stated. “You will need to stress that even when the cost solely applies to Matapour, it doesn’t imply that the suspicion towards the others within the case has weakened.”
The trial towards Matapour who reportedly arrived in Norway together with his household from a Kurdish a part of Iran within the Nineteen Nineties, is scheduled to begin in March and final for 2 months. If discovered responsible, he faces 30 years in jail.
The taking pictures shocked Norway, which has a comparatively low crime fee however has skilled a sequence of so-called lone wolf assaults in latest many years, together with one of many worst mass shootings in Europe. In 2011, a right-wing extremist killed 69 individuals on the island of Utoya after setting off a bomb in Oslo that left eight {dead}.
In 2019, one other right-wing extremist killed his stepsister after which opened hearth in a mosque however was overpowered earlier than anybody there was injured.
Two years later, a Norwegian man armed with knives and a bow and arrow killed 5 individuals in a city within the south of the nation. The attacker, who was recognized with schizophrenia, was sentenced Friday to obligatory psychiatric care.