The short version
- Arfan Bhatti embraced terrorist defendant Zaniar Matapour in the Oslo district court during the trial against Matapour.
- Bhatti refused to answer questions and demanded access to documents containing information about himself before making a statement.
- The 46-year-old claims that the Norwegian authorities have committed injustice against him and accuses them of interfering in Pakistani legal proceedings in connection with the extradition.
- Bhatti will cooperate with the police and allow himself to be questioned as soon as he gets access to the case documents.
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On Tuesday, he was driven the scant ten miles from Kongsvinger prison to the capital to testify in the trial against terrorist accused Zaniar Matapour.
The court was set at 09:20.
– Then we continue. The next witness is Bhatti, the judge said.
A few minutes later, Bhatti entered the hall. He was wearing a green cap and a black tracksuit with turquoise details.
The half-length beard was gray.
He smiled and walked over to his mate Matapour – and embraced him.
– Thanks for the pizza
The two exchanged a few words as Bhatti sat in the witness box. Matapour is indicted for the terror in central Oslo on the night of 25 June 2022.
Two people were killed and 21 people were injured. Bhatti is charged with complicity in terrorism.
– He is a good mate, Bhatti said when the judge asked about his relationship with Matapour.
State prosecutor Sturla Henriksbø started the questioning.
– Thank you for the last time and the pizza we ate together (in Pakistan). I don’t want to say anything until I get access to documents with information about me, answered Bhatti from the witness box.
Henriksbø went to Pakistan when the Norwegian police questioned Bhatti at the end of January. At that time too, the 46-year-old charged with terrorism wanted to say little about the case itself.
Wrote a letter to the police
In connection with the questioning in Pakistan, Bhatti handed over a handwritten letter to the police. He read this out in the Oslo District Court on Tuesday.
The title of the letter is:
“Reason why I don’t want to be questioned”
In the letter, Bhatti writes that he will not allow himself to be questioned until he has gained access to all documents in the case – and all documents that concern him.
“I have therefore decided not to enter into any questioning in this and/or any other criminal cases, until I have full access to case and personal information”the letter says.
Bhatti specifies that he also wants all information registered about him with a number of bodies. He lists several ministries, the Police’s security service and the Oslo police district.
The public prosecutor wanted to know whether the fact that Bhatti is not given access to various documents is an excuse for not having to explain himself in the terror case.
– John Christian Elden (Bhatti’s lawyer) and I have tried to get access to the documents for a long time. This was a process that started in 2018, Bhatti explained.
He ends the three-page letter by asserting his innocence:
“I have not contributed in any way to the act Zaniar is accused of, and know as little about it as anyone else”says the letter, which is dated 30 January this year.
Asked questions back
When state prosecutor Henriksbø tried to ask Bhatti questions related to the criminal case against Matapour, the 46-year-old responded by asking questions back:
– Why did the Norwegian authorities put my life and that of my children in danger in Pakistan?
– Why have the Norwegian authorities committed illegal acts to get me extradited?
– Why have the Norwegian authorities paid cash to people in Pakistan to take me?
– Why has the E-service interfered in agreements and meetings to get me extradited?
– Norway was not interested
Bhatti claims he was subjected to torture-like conditions in Pakistan after he was arrested there a year and a half ago.
– There is not a single document in which the Norwegian authorities ask where Bhatti is and how he is doing. The documents are only about speeding up the extradition process. Norway was not interested in knowing what circumstances I was in, said Bhatti.
The 46-year-old accuses Norway of having interfered in legal proceedings in Pakistan in connection with the extradition.
Bhatti was picked up in Islamabad and flown to Norway on Friday.
– It is interesting that Norway always says that they do not want to interfere in other countries’ legal processes. In Pakistan, the issue of extradition was due to be heard in court on 28 May. But now I am sitting here, said Bhatti.
– Tragic
After just under an hour, Bhatti was finished in the witness box. The last question he answered was about the victims of the summer night terror attack two years ago.
– It is tragic for those who were affected. I am so far away from having anything to do with that incident, replied Bhatti.
Bhatti announced that he would give a full explanation in court – if the police’s further investigation leads to him also being prosecuted for the terror.
He embraced Matapour, before several police officers led him out of the courtroom.
– No obligation to explain
It is Inger Zadig from Elden Advokatfirma who accompanies Bhatti in court on Tuesday.
– He has been charged in this case, and he has therefore chosen to follow our advice not to explain himself as a witness in the same case – all the time he is not obliged to explain himself, she says.
– As the case stands today, he only has the status of accused, and the police have indicated to us that the investigation into the case will continue beyond the autumn before a prosecution decision can be made, says Zadiq.
– Will allow himself to be questioned
Bhatti must be prepared to cooperate with the police and allow himself to be questioned – as soon as he has full access to the case’s documents.
– We are aware that there are documents which, as of today, are not included in the criminal case documents, but which are relevant to the case. We will therefore request that the police carry out more investigative steps to gain access to these documents, says Zadig.
It was State Attorney Henriksbø who chose to call Bhatti in as a witness.
– What is the point of calling Bhatti in as a witness when it has been announced that he will not explain himself?
– That was also his starting point when the Norwegian police questioned him in Pakistan, nevertheless there were some topics he wanted to explain about, says Henriksbø to VG ahead of the court day.
– So when Bhatti is available, we want to call him in so that he can explain himself.
– What topics did he talk about in the interrogation in Pakistan?
– He told, among other things, about the injustice he felt he was exposed to from the Norwegian authorities over several years. It is a topic we would like him to explain himself about.
Correction
In an earlier version of this article, VG wrote in a caption that the photo showed Bhatti’s lawyer Inger Zadig. The correct thing is that it was Matapour’s defender Albulena Krasniqi. The caption was corrected at 9.18 7 May 2024.
