Smiling Arfan Bhatti gave Matapour a hug – refusing to explain himself until he was given access

On his way into the courtroom, Bhatti greeted defendant Matapour with a smile and gave him a hug. Bhatti is wearing tracksuits, a hoodie, a green cap and has a relatively short-cut full beard.

When asked by the judge, he replied that terrorist defendant Zaniar Matapour is “a good friend”.

There is great excitement about what – if anything – the high-profile Islamist will say when he is presented as a witness in the terror case against Zaniar Matapour on Tuesday morning. He has made it clear to the Norwegian authorities that he requires full access to all information registered on him before he is willing to allow himself to be questioned.

The information is held by the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the Oslo Police District and the Police Security Service (PST), according to Bhatti.

– I am interested in what the ministries have done politically and what political agreements have been made outside of this criminal case here, said Bhatti when asked by State Attorney Sturla Henriksbø.

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Read the letter

He chose to read out a handwritten letter several pages long, in which he criticizes the Norwegian authorities for their treatment of him and for having interfered politically in the Pakistani judicial proceedings of the extradition case against him.

– It is unworthy of the Norwegian rule of law. It is undemocratic and corrupt, said Bhatti, who claimed he was tortured and imprisoned for a long time in Pakistan without the assistance of a lawyer.

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– Several months passed without me seeing daylight, he said.

Through his defender, lawyer John Christian Elden, he has made it clear that he, who was charged with complicity in the case, will exercise his right not to explain himself. In any case, he will be placed in the witness box in case 250 and clarify to the court what he wants and does not want to talk about.

– We assume that there will be no special contribution in the case from him, says State Attorney Sturla Henriksbø to NTB.

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– Not involved

The 46-year-old accused of terrorism was transported back to Norway on Friday after being detained in Pakistan. The Norwegian authorities believe he had a central role in the planning and instigation of the mass shooting in central Oslo on the night of 25 June 2022.

But Arfan Bhatti denies criminal guilt and points out, among other things, that he was not even in the country when Zaniar Matapour (44) opened fire on revelers at the night clubs London Pub and Per på Hjørnet.

– I have not contributed in any way to the actions Zaniar is accused of. I know as little about them as anyone else, Bhatti said in court on Tuesday.

In a heated exchange with the state attorney, he accused the Norwegian authorities of having paid cash to witnesses in Pakistan. He did not want to answer the prosecutor’s questions until he had answers to his own questions.

– When my defender has said that I will not give any explanation, I do not understand why I have been summoned as a witness at all, he said.

– I answer what I think is the right answer, said Bhatti when the judge tried to intervene.