Arfan Bhatti and Zaniar Matapour smiled when they saw each other after two years and gave each other a hug. Bhatti then raged against Norway and the prosecution.
Published: 07/05/2024 09:30 | Updated: 07/05/2024 10:16
Two months after the mass shooting in Oslo in June 2022, Arfan Bhatti was charged with complicity in the case. He was also wanted. Bhatti traveled to Pakistan three weeks before the attack in central Oslo took place.
After over a year and a half in prison in Pakistan, Bhatti was brought home to Norway last Friday. He was remanded in custody on Saturday. He himself has always denied criminal guilt.
Today he has been brought to Oslo district court to testify in the ongoing case against Zaniar Matapour, who shot and killed two people during the attack on 25 June. In addition, several were injured.
Bhatti arrived in courtroom 250 at 9.25am. Matapour was already in court when Bhatti was picked up. They smiled when they saw each other and hugged each other. When asked by the judge, Bhatti replied that he is good friends with Matapour.
Race towards Norway
After giving personal details, prosecutor Sturla Henriksbø started questioning Bhatti. Henriksbø wondered if Bhatti has any connection to the mass shooting on 25 June?
Bhatti did not answer the question, but called for access to information about him in the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defence. Bhatti’s desire for access degenerated almost into a discussion between the prosecutor and Bhatti.
– I think it is quite a double standard that the same ministry from which I am requesting access contributes information to you in the case against extradition,
The prosecutor believed that Bhatti would not sign a declaration of exemption from the duty of confidentiality. Therefore it was not possible to give him access.
Bhatti also read from a text that he himself had written some time ago. He believed that he had been monitored illegally. He also blamed Norway for ensuring that he was illegally arrested in Pakistan in September 2022. Bhatti was held captive for almost half a year before he was brought before the court. He called this arrest a “kidnapping”.
– The Norwegian authorities were not concerned with the circumstances I was in, but they only wanted speed in the case to get me extradited. It is a sign that Norway has contributed to something they do not want to acknowledge, Bhatti raged.
Blamed Norway for interference
– Norway has interfered in a legal process in Pakistan. Norway says that other countries should not interfere in Norwegian legal proceedings, while Norway itself does so, Bhatti continued.
– You want an answer from me, but don’t want to give me an answer. Won’t give me access, Bhatti raged.
Bhatti believed from the witness box that the prosecution has paid money to witnesses in Pakistan.
– Why did you pay cash to a witness in Pakistan?
– Now it’s like you’re sitting in the witness box and I’m the one asking the questions, replied Henriksbø.
But Bhatti continued to ask the prosecutor questions about Norway’s role in the process that led to Bhatti being extradited from Pakistan.
– Why have the Norwegian authorities made illegal agreements to get me extradited? asked Bhatti.
The prosecutor then chose to read from a statement from Bhatti that was taken in Pakistan. In this interrogation, it emerged that Bhatti has known Zaniar Matapour for a long time, and that he only had positive things to say about Matapour. Bhatti would not say anything about Matapour until Matapour consented to it.
Since Bhatti did not want to answer the prosecutor’s questions, but put his questions to the prosecutor, the prosecutor chose to end the questioning.
Assistance lawyer Christian Lundin asked if Bhatti would say anything to the victims of the mass shooting.
– It is tragic for them, but I am far from this matter. I know neither people nor others involved in the case, replied Bhatti.
Before Bhatti left the courtroom, he gave Matapour a goodbye hug and exchanged a few sentences with him.
