An appeals court in Oslo has overturned the decision to release Mullah Krekar from custody, which I wrote about last week. Borgarting Lagmannsrett has decided that Krekar will be held until Frebruary 2 while the investigation continues, just as the prosecution requested.

I'll just quote at length from the court's ruling. It's the best summary of the new case against Krekar I've read so far. It's both clearer than the news reports and contains details I haven't seen anywhere else.

There is in the court's opinion reasonable cause to suspect that the accused has had - and still has - a central position in Ansar al-Islam. ..

Several witness statements leave the impression that suicide and explosive attacks could not be performed without the awareness of the accused, and according to statements by the accused to the police noone could be punished without his approval. ..

In the court's opinion, it is reasonable cause to suspect that the accused, despite the formal change of leadership about May 2002, has retained his actual influence over the organization. There is a witness statement to the effect that the change of leadership may have been caused by a desire to avoid any problems for the accused in Europe. ..

As recently as late last year the accused has made statements on the Internet and other places, which may indicate that he still recruits for Ansar al-Islam. ..

Furthermore there's reasonable cause to suspect that suicide attacks and other forms of terrorism are among Ansar al-Islam's methods. There are several witness statements from former members of Ansar al-Islam claiming that the organization trains soldiers for suicide attacks.

Two of the witnesses were themselves ordered to carry out such attacks, but they were both arrested before they had a chance to set off the explosives. One was meant to throw a hand grenade into a large crowd during a memorial session, the other was arrested with a "suicide vest", containing 5kg TNT and metal parts. According to the man who arrested him, there were about 30 civilians in close proximity to the place of arrest, and a larger group was about 40m away. The bomb had been given to him by a person who - according to the accused - is an Arab member of Ansar al-Islam, with a background from Afghanistan.

Attacks of this sort must in the court's opinion necessarily lead to the loss of civilian life. Witnesses have told of courses in suicide missions, with several participants, some of them named. There is therefore reasonable cause to suspect that the two arrested suicide activists did not represent isolated cases, but that training of suicide bombers for suicide attacks is a part of the organization's activities.

Based on the position the accused has in Ansar al-Islam, it is difficult to imagine that he did not have thorough knowledge over the activities of the organization. ..

It is unlikely that he has not also taken part in the activities that concerned the planning, organization and education of suicide bombers and carrying out of suicide attacks. In addition, the two arrested suicide bombers have explained that the accused was one of their teachers. Among other things he lead discussions with the soldiers about suicide attacks, and he said in that respect that it was a good thing to kill non-Muslims. He has furthermore carried out recruitment for such attacks. In the opinion of several witnesses, the accused had to be informed about suicide attacks because he was the boss, and wanted to know what happened in the name of the organization. ..

In the opinion of the court, the accused must also be aware that suicide attacks harm civilians. According to witness statements the accused has said that the attacks are holy, and that God will forgive. It is unproblematic that many civilians will die, because God has ended their lives. The accused has at other occasions spoken in similar ways. As late as in December 2003, he has according to sources for the police encouraged people who want to blow themselves up to carry out attacks by travelling to Iraq and harming Bush and all countries that support him. .. Considering the role of the accused in Ansar al-Islam, there is reasonable cause to suspect that his statements are more than just parts of a theological debate.

(For those of you who just skipped that part: Krekar knew about, encouraged and justified suicide attacks he knew would kill civilians. And he's still involved with Ansar.)

The court dismisses the claim made by the defense, and accepted by the lower court which ordered Krekar's release, that witnesses held by PUK forces are almost by definition unreliable, or that it was inappropriate of the Norwegian police to cooperate with the CIA and/or FBI to gather these statements. It also rejects the demand by the lower court for a "sociocultural" evaluation of Krekar's beliefs.

In other words, this is a victory for the prosecution. What I find most intriguing is that while the specific attacks Krekar are accused of being involved with were directed primarily at PUK forces, they would inevitably have killed many civilians. I haven't seen that mentioned before, and it answers the one big concern I had about this case: that we were trying to sentence Krekar for being a guerilla leader. If the case is as strong as this ruling indicates, I'm all in favor of it. Let's put this creep behind bars.

It does depend on the actual targets. But "Among other things he lead discussions with the soldiers about suicide attacks, and he said in that respect that it was a good thing to kill non-Muslims" seems to show that there was no concern about who was hit.

Thanks for the update.

Keep on it, Bjorn. Your insight would also be welcome at rantburg, I'm sure.

Writing on the internet that he recruits for a terrorist organisation. Sounds like this guy really takes Euro justice seriously...

I'm glad to have found this source of information on the Krekar case. (And your "People's Blog" is great!)

I've posted an update referring to this page on my blog.

http://trevorstanley.blogspot.com/2004_01_01_trevorstanley_archive.html#107408168150176064

Well, well, via Rantburg from the Telegraph:

Islamic exile ordered bombings from Oslo, claims CIA
By Damien McElroy, Foreign Correspondent
(Filed: 18/01/2004)

Internet messages sent by an exiled Islamic radical allegedly ordering suicide bomb attacks against coalition troops in Iraq have been intercepted by American intelligence officials.

Mullah Krekar, founder of Ansar Al-Islam, the fanatical terror group linked to al-Qa'eda and blamed by America for a number of attacks on its troops, is being held in an Oslo prison while police investigate if he has any role in the Iraqi resistance....

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