– The most important work is ahead of us and we have strong expectations of the follow-up work from the Minister of Justice and the rest of the government, says committee leader Peter Frølich to VG.
The committee takes note of the committee’s conclusion on 25 June whether it is possible that the attack could have been prevented if the Police Security Service (PST) had opened a preventive case against Zaniar Matapour in the months before the attack.
The e-service, for its part, receives a stamp of approval in the setting.
– The committee is clear that the E-service seems to have done what they could to notify of their findings, says Frølich.
Should have followed up on Matapour earlier
The committee’s minority, Socialist Left Party, Red, Venstre and Miliøpartiet De Gronne, have noticed that two months before the terrorist attack, Matapour and Arfan Bhatti were stopped by the police in a car following two SIAN members. Two knives and no mobile phones were found in the car.
The Committee notes that Bhatti’s opinions and attitudes are known to PST and that it is difficult to understand that a preventive case was not established at this time.
The minority also questions why PST did not investigate to a greater extent who Bhatti had in his circle of friends in Norway.
The minority also questions the fact that PST had relevant intelligence about Matapour, but did not share it with the Oslo police’s radicalization contacts who were responsible for following him up.
– The committee’s report is no less serious today than when it came out last year, and makes it even more incomprehensible that so little has happened since it was presented. With our position today, we state that everyone involved has major learning points, and that the work to follow up the committee’s recommendations must have a high priority going forward, says Almeland.
He believes the Minister of Justice must apologise.
– Not least those who were affected by the terror are still waiting for an apology. When the committee has now agreed on our recommendation, I and the Liberal Party expect that apology to come from the government and Mehl.
Also read: Victims of terrorism: – We feel that we are being heavily deprioritised
Mehl late on the ball
The majority of the committee, with the exception of the members from the governing parties, criticize Mehl’s follow-up of the queer environment.
– The government’s follow-up of those affected after the attack is too poor. It is completely incomprehensible to me that you can sit as Minister of Justice and at the same time have so little contact with the most central stakeholders, says Grunde Almeland from Venstre to VG.
He points out that the control committee is now requesting, through a decision, that it initiates follow-up research on those affected by the terrorist attack.
– Despite repeated inquiries, it took almost a year before the minister arranged a meeting with the queer organizations that were affected by the attack, says committee leader Frølich.
The committee also believes that PST may have paid too little attention to events of importance to minority groups in this case.
Boasting of the heroes who intervened
When it comes to the police’s operational handling of the attack itself, the committee concludes that this was, on the whole, well carried out. The committee expresses deep gratitude to the individuals who overpowered the perpetrator.
– We must give praise and show our gratitude to the brave people who overpowered the perpetrator before the police arrested him. Without them, this could have gone much worse, says Frølich.
Critical to cancellation of support marking
On the other hand, the committee is critical of the fact that responsibility for the decision and communication around the cancellation of large events was left to Oslo Pride. According to the committee, the police authorities entrusted too much communication responsibility to Oslo Pride, which had to make and defend unpopular decisions for which they did not know the basis.
Based on former PST manager Roger Berg’s claims in the consultation rounds, the minority in the committee is not satisfied.
The committee that has investigated the handling of the events on 25 June 2022 criticizes the Norwegian Police Directorate for not having carried out a proportionality assessment before recommending the cancellation of the solidarity marking on 27 June.
The Evaluation Committee that investigated the terrorist attack believed this to be a violation of human rights.
– It is the courts that ultimately decide what constitutes a human rights violation. The committee nevertheless expresses that we do not share the 25 June committee’s conclusion that human rights were violated when the police recommended the cancellation of the event, says Frølich.
According to the committee’s members from SV, Rødt, Venstre and MDG, the decision to cancel was made on the basis of advice from PST, without an assessment of the advantages and disadvantages being carried out.
Did the meeting take place?
The former PST manager Roger Berg came to the open hearing with information that just hours before the attack he had a “controlling meeting” as a final check before employees went on holiday or took a weekend.
– Should we sound the terror alarm? We knew it was Pride, we knew Arfan Bhatti had posted this flag. He did this continuously over many years by finding the balance between threats and statements that challenged the Norwegian authorities. We knew he was in Pakistan, Berg said in the hearing.
– We are asking questions about whether this meeting took place at all, says Grunde Almeland.
Roger Berg does not wish to comment on the case.
