On Monday morning met a 24 year old Norwegian-Pakistani from Fredrikstad in the Oslo District Court. He was the first Norwegian who were charged with terrorist acts in Syria, after the Police Security Service (PST) arrested him at the airport in February 2013.
The man is accused of supporting IS and having signed an agreement with them to commit terrorist acts. He risks a sentence of up to 12 years. He denies guilt and claims he was in Syria to engage in relief work.
– My intention was never to commit any act of terrorism. On the contrary, I had the intention to go to Syria to help the Syrian population. I experienced this as a moral and religious duty, said 24-year-old from the witness stand. He thinks the charges are absurd, frightening and disappointing.
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– World just stood and watched
The defendant said he had a great need to help the Syrian people after read about the conflict in the media.
– Everywhere I read about the Syrian people’s suffering. We talked about it in the mosque, school and circle of friends. About our dead brothers and sisters. About tyrant Assad (Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, journ.anm). But the world just stood and watched.
24-year-old said that involvement came at the same time that he began to practice Islam. He made new friends, including another man from Fredrikstad, which he eventually traveled with Syria.
– I heard that many had gone to Syria to help. That it was collected money and clothing. I think that oppression must have a limit, and that’s what drew me into this. What is happening in Syria is …
24-year-old burst into tears several times when he told the newspaper articles he had read about the conflict in Syria. These articles will be part of the defense evidence. The defendant explained that one particular story about a young girl who was raped in a mosque, had gone into him.
– I did not sleep for many days and struggled to eat. We stood like a bunch of hypocrites and so on these disorders. How could we call ourselves Muslims? A large portion of Islam is to help people in the world who suffer.
Went for concern conversation
24-year-old began according PST planning your trip to Syria in June 2013. Some months earlier, PST had a concern conversation with him. The two had claimed prosecutor with large amounts of cash and some military equipment when they left.
The defendant confirms that he traveled with his friend, but claims therefore they should conduct relief work. The two parted when they reached Syria. The second man was killed in a bomb attack last December and is one of the 18 that PST prosecuting terror.
PST denies 24-year-old’s explanation and believes he can prove that 24-year-old and his Friend supported IS.
– Their purpose of the trip was to join organizations to exert violence, says prosecutor Evanger.
24-year-old claims he did not know what IS and the other groups in Syria accounted for at the time.
– Now I know that, but I did not know it then. But I was there only to provide supplies and medicines and carrying injured to hospital. I remember the days passed slowly. All bombing and shooting … It was hell on earth.
Defender Thomas Randby emphasized this when he commented on the prosecutor’s opening statement. He pointed out that the defendant must be judged based on what he knew at the time of the alleged acts.
– Having read all the documents, it is clear that he now has a good idea. But what did this boy from fredrikstad area at the time?
Come back with gunshot wounds
PST he believes in during their Syria left the IS and went over to Jabath an-Nusret, who also springs from al-Qaida. The two are basically two rival groups.
24-year-old came back with gunshot wounds in February last year. When did the sister contacted Norwegian authorities for help to get him home.
– In the beginning he is marked by bullet wounds, both mental and physical. But later he resumes contact with the relevant people in Syria. He plans to travel down again in December. Then he was arrested again by the PST, said the prosecutor.
The day before the defendant had changed names and ordered a new passport. He will also have a few days earlier told a friend in Syria that he came back.
The father of the terrorist suspect 24-year-old is also arrested and charged with having supported IS. He will testify later in the trial. The same should the radical Islamist Ubaydullah Hussein. Prosecutors believe 24-year-old has had contact with Islamist group Prophetic Ummah in Norway before he left for Syria.
At least 80 have traveled
Recent figures Aftenposten collected from PST show that at least 80 people have traveled from Norway to Syria and Iraq to join terrorist organizations. PST believes the real number is much higher because of the big unknown:
- Around 25 of those who left have returned
- 15 people are confirmed killed in action
- 18 people have been charged, prosecuted or convicted
- 24-year-old accused of terror
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