KONGSVINGER / OSLO DISTRICT COURT (Dagbladet): On Tuesday morning, the well-known Islamist Arfan Bhatti (46) was driven from the prison in the direction of Oslo District Court.
Just before 8.36, Bhatti was driven into the garage at the courthouse in Oslo in a dark cell car from the Oslo police district.
In the same way as when he was brought home to Norway from Pakistan on Friday, he was strictly guarded during the transport by crew from the police.
Flying with several “bodyguards”
Two days in court
On Tuesday, Bhatti was summoned as a witness in the ongoing trial against Zaniar Matapour (44), who is charged with aggravated terrorism after the mass shooting in central Oslo the night before the Pride celebrations on 25 June 2022.
Two days have been set aside for the certificate.
– Arfan Bhatti has made it clear in advance that he does not want to explain himself, but we still have a number of questions for him. We hope that there are some topics where he wants to answer questions, but we do not have high expectations that we will get anything out of the explanation, says State Attorney Sturla Henriksbø, one of the prosecutors in the case, to Dagbladet on Tuesday morning.
On Tuesday, Bhatti was summoned as a witness in the ongoing trial against Zaniar Matapour (44), who is accused…
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– Accused of being the main man
Bhatti has the status of the accused in the case, in that the police believe that he contributed to the attack, in which Jon Erik Isachsen (54) and Kåre Arvid Hesvik (60) were killed and dozens of people injured.
– What questions would you like to ask Bhatti?
– He is accused of being the main man behind the terrorist attack. There are of course a number of questions related to his role and knowledge of the matter. He is also a close friend of Matapour. Since the question of sanity is central to the case, it is natural to ask him about Matapour and his impression of him, replies Henriksbø.
On Saturday, Oslo District Court decided to remand Bhatti for four weeks. He did not appear in court himself, which dealt with the imprisonment issue as so-called office business.
Bhatti petitioned to be released from custody, and denies having anything to do with the June 25 attack. He was in Pakistan when the mass shooting took place.
LANDED: Here, the plane with Arfan Bhatti has just landed at Oslo Airport on Friday evening. Photo: Bjørn Langsem / Dagbladet
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– Feels prejudged
Dagbladet is aware that Bhatti has made it clear that he does not want to explain himself in court.
– Bhatti feels pre-judged, and I remind you that he is not a defendant, but charged in the case, his defender John Christian Elden has previously stated.
The prosecution will still have the opportunity to ask him questions in court, but as Bhatti has been charged, he has no obligation to explain.
Earlier this year, a delegation from the Norwegian police met Bhatti in prison in Pakistan, but even then he did not want to answer questions related to the charge.
Among other things, he has demanded access to documents that the Norwegian authorities have sent to the Pakistani authorities in connection with the extradition process.
In a letter from January this year, Bhatti writes that he refuses to explain himself until he has been given full access to “case and personal information, including third-party information registered about me at the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Defence, PST, OPD and all ordinary police and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”, wrote NRK this weekend.
CHARGED: Arfan Bhatti is charged with complicity in the 25 June attack in central Oslo. Here he is pictured in connection with a demonstration in 2012. Photo: John Terje Pedersen / Dagbladet
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The court: Mental involvement
In the imprisonment order handed down against Bhatti on Saturday, it appears that the court believes that it is likely that he participated “psychologically in advance” of the attack on 25 June, in that he “strengthened Matapour’s intention”.
The court refers to several circumstances which they believe substantiate the suspicion:
- It is clear that Bhatti and Matapour are acquaintances, and that they had contact in the time before the attack. Matapour was also in possession of slips of paper with handwritten telephone numbers which can be linked to Bhatti, when he was arrested.
- In conversations with an undercover agent from the National Intelligence Service after the shooting, the Telegram user “Shaheen” is said to have linked the actions. The e-service and the police believe that “Shaheen” is Bhatti.
In front of the court, the police have expressed that they hope to complete the investigation against Bhatti by November this year.
The charge of complicity in serious terrorism carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison.
