Arfan Bhatti has been extradited to Norway

The short version

• Arfan Bhatti, accused of terrorism, has been extradited to Norway from Pakistan.
• He is accused of having contributed to the planning of the terrorist attack in Oslo in June 2022, but denies guilt.
• The extradition is considered very important for the ongoing trial in Oslo District Court, where Zaniar Matapour is charged with the terrorist attack.
• Bhatti is expected to be remanded in custody in Norway over the weekend and will be called as a witness in the trial on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

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TV 2 reported the extradition first. A flight with Arfan Bhatti on board took off from an airport in Pakistan on Friday morning.

Bhatti himself was informed of the extradition on Thursday, according to the police.

– We cannot go into details about the pick-up itself, but we have not been informed that there was any drama or that Bhatti resisted when he was picked up, says police attorney Ingvild Myrold ​​to VG.

VG is aware that a plane that the Norwegian authorities have previously used for sensitive operations abroad took off from Gardermoen on Thursday morning.

The plane stayed overnight in Georgia, before flying on to Pakistan.

On Friday morning, the plane was on the ground in the capital Islamabad for about 45 minutes, before it was on the wings again – and on its way out of Pakistani airspace.

The plane is now on its way to Norway, and is expected to land at Gardermoen on Friday afternoon.

– It has been very important for the government to get Bhatti deliveredWhen a person is transferred from one country’s authorities to another country’s authorities, often in connection with crime. from Pakistan, says Minister of Justice Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp) on Friday morning.

– When we have now succeeded, it can give us more answers to what happened that terrible night and hold the culprits accountable, she continues.

Arrested in Pakistan

Bhatti is chargedn person who is suspected of having committed a criminal act and against whom the police have formal suspicions. for having helped plan the terrorist attack in Oslo on 25 June 2022.

Two people were killed and 21 people injured when his comrade, Zaniar Matapour, went on the attack. Matapour is now defendantWhen the police have finished the investigation, the accused can be prosecuted. This means that there will be a trial, and that the police are convinced that the person is guilty and that it can be proven in court. for the terrorist attack.

Bhatti was arrested a few months later in Pakistan.

For over a year and a half, the Norwegian authorities have tried to bring him to Norway.

Bhatti denies criminal responsibility.

– We are not surprised by the unpredictability of the Pakistani legal system, but we had expected that the Norwegian authorities would wait for a legally binding decision before taking action, says lawyer John Christian Elden, who is Bhatti’s defender.

– This action calls into question respect for the legal process and international legal principles, he continues.

Bhatti will be produced for remand on Saturday, says police attorney Myrold. He is charged with participationContributing to a criminal act being carried out, even if one does not carry out the act itself. to terror.

– How he approaches this will be clarified later, says Myrvold.

– We are now in a new phase with a particular focus on participation. There are large and comprehensive investigations that remain.

Bhatti will be called as a witness in the ongoing trial against Matapour in the Oslo district court on Tuesday and Wednesday next week. Bhatti nevertheless has a right to refuse to testify.

– One step further

The June 25 support group says it is good that Bhatti is now being extradited.

– The prosecution wanted him here to inform the case as best as possible, and we who are victims in the case are also interested in that, says the support group’s leader, Espen Evjenth.

He himself was in a London pub during the terrorist attack, and was hit by gunfire.

– We hope that he will be put in the witness box in the trial against the perpetrator, and that he will later be held accountable for his role in the case, says Evjenth.

Mehl says that “many people have been scared, insecure and angry, especially in the queer environment”, after the terrorist attack.

– There is now a trial going on that demands a lot from all of you, and the news coming today will perhaps also arouse strong and painful feelings in many. I would like to say to you that this day opens the possibility for us to take a step forward.

Traveled to Pakistan

Bhatti’s return to Norway takes place after a long and arduous legal process in the court in Pakistan, where the extremist has been imprisoned since September 2022. But in January this year it became clear that he could be extradited.

On Tuesday 7 June 2022, Arfan Bhatti and his family left Oslo and Norway for the countryside in Pakistan. Just over two weeks later, Matapour attacked in the center of Oslo just before Pride.

VG has previously revealed ten conversations between what the police believe to be Bhatti and an agent on a top-secret mission for the Norwegian Intelligence Service.

The two interlocutors spoke for several hours over several weeks – and the dialogue is now one of the main pieces of evidence in the criminal case against the extremist accused of terrorism.

Bhatti himself denies having taken part in the chat conversations, which you can read at the bottom of this case.

– His name alone is enough to indict

Norwegian police have been well acquainted with Arfan Bhatti for a number of years and have investigated him a number of times. But he has been acquitted time after time.

– There are very few clients over the years that I have had, where the prosecution has set such a low threshold for prosecution that he is mostly acquitted in court, Bhatti’s defender, lawyer John Christian Elden, told VG earlier.

– It seems that his name alone is enough for an indictment where others had had the charges dropped, he added.

The police will now complete the investigation against Bhatti, before they send a recommendation for a prosecution decision to a higher prosecuting authority.

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