The Local.No
A Norwegian court on Monday sentenced Mullah Krekar, the founder of a radical Iraqi Kurdish Islamist group, to five years in jail for issuing death threats against a former government minister and others.
- Islamists main threat to Norway: intelligence (17 Jan 12)
- Mullah Krekar on trial over death threats (15 Feb 12)
- Jail Krekar for five years: Norway prosecutor (28 Feb 12)
The 55-year-old mullah, whose real name is Najmeddine Faraj Ahmad and who has lived in Norway since 1991, founded the Ansar al-Islam group.
He was found guilty of threatening the life of Erna Solberg, an ex-minister who signed his expulsion order in 2003 because he was considered a threat to national security.
“Norway will pay a heavy price for my death,” he said during a meeting with international media in June 2010.
“If for example Erna Solberg deports me and I die as a result, she will suffer the same fate,” he said in Arabic.
“I don’t know who will kill her: Al-Qaeda, Ansar al-Islam, my family, my children. I don’t know… But she will pay the price.”
The three Oslo court judges said the threat was aimed at pushing Norwegian authorities to retract the expulsion order.
