The country’s highest court has ruled that a housewife married to a foreign fighter in IS can be punished for participating in a terrorist organisation. The 32-year-old will not return to prison, as the sentence is considered to have been served during the time she has been in custody. In April, the Norwegian-Pakistani woman was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for IS participation in the Borgarting Court of Appeal. The sentence was one year lighter than in the district court. The Court of Appeal agreed with the woman that she was exploited for human trafficking in the time after her husband Bastian Vasquez died. Now the Supreme Court has lowered the penalty even further. In the decision from the Supreme Court, it is stated that there are several mitigating circumstances, which are given great weight when sentencing. One of them is that the woman lived in a forced situation for over five years, in the period after she came to Syria. Furthermore, it is said that the IS spouses sexually assaulted her, and that she was subjected to violence. – The conditions in the Al-Hol refugee camp, where she stayed until January 2020, are dangerous and inhumane. She has distanced herself from her actions, and she has contributed to the children now being able to grow up safely, the judgment says. First to return In connection with the previous court round, defense attorney Nils Christian Nordhus appealed, stating that the woman did not agree that being a spouse, housewife and babysitter can be said to be participation in the Islamic State. The 32-year-old is the first so-called IS woman to have returned to Norway from Syria. The woman and her two children were brought by the Norwegian authorities from the al-Hol camp in Syria in January 2020, because it was suspected that the eldest child was seriously ill. The woman was arrested by the Police’s security service when she landed at Gardermoen. The fact that the woman was brought to Norway was the trigger for the Progress Party’s exit from Erna Solberg’s government soon after. These Norwegian citizens are detained in Syria At least 11 women traveled from Norway to Syria. Six of these have been found by Aftenposten and news. The rest are presumed dead, missing or in an unknown location. These four women with Norwegian citizenship are in Syria now: Aisha Shazadi Kausar from Bærum with one child. Kausar was moved to the Al Roj camp in 2020. Has previously told Aftenposten that she wants to come back to Norway, but preferably Pakistan. In October 2020, she told news that she regretted asking the Norwegian authorities for help. 18. In May 2021, Aftenposten reported that she wanted help from the Norwegian authorities. Woman (23) from Bærum with one child in camp Roj. Has told Aftenposten that she wants to return to Norway. She will not distance herself from IS. Woman (27) from Bærum in Al Hol with two children. Has also said that she wants to go to Norway with the children, but has not asked the Norwegian authorities for assistance. Woman (34) from Levanger. The woman is childless. She refers to the time with the terrorist group IS as the best of her life. The woman is in Al Hol. This means that there are a total of four Norwegian children in the camps. It is not known whether any men with Norwegian citizenship are imprisoned in Syria or Iraq. In January 2020, a woman from Oslo with two children was brought home to Norway. In an interview with news in March 2019, she said that she had a strong desire to return to Norway. (Source: news and Aftenposten) Went to Syria The now 32-year-old woman from Oslo went to the civil war in Syria in February 2013 to be with the Norwegian foreign fighter Bastian Vasquez, whom she had married online. Vasquez from Skien, who had converted to Islam, later became a front figure for the terrorist group IS in several propaganda films. The Norwegian-Pakistani woman went to Syria, where she met Bastian Vasquez. Bastian Vasquez featured in IS propaganda videos before his death. Photo: Al Hayat After he died, she married a Sharia judge and when he died, she married a third man in the IS-controlled areas of Syria. After the so-called caliphate was defeated at the beginning of 2019, the woman and the children she had had in Syria were put in the al-Hol detention camp, along with thousands of other women and children. The Court of Appeal writes that she traveled of her own free will to Syria to join a terrorist organisation. “She knew that she would be subject to a strict patriarchal regime, where her freedom of action and movement would be severely restricted.” The sentence against the IS woman has significance for other Norwegian IS women who are still in camps in Syria. The woman and the IS fighters Terrorist accused woman (32) Norwegian citizen, born in Pakistan. Came to Norway as a four-year-old. Raised on the eastern edge of Oslo. Became part of the environment around the Prophet’s Ummah. There she met her husband Bastian Vasquez. Went to Syria in the winter of 2013, where she married Vasquez. The two had a son. Later married two more times in Syria. Vasquez and second husband are dead. Was brought to Norway together with two children in January 2020, with the assistance of the Norwegian police and employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Arrested by PST on arrival in Norway. Later prosecuted for terrorist participation. “By looking after their child and taking care of various tasks in the home, she facilitated the conditions for NN (first husband) to take part in combat actions in ISIL,” the indictment says. The same wording is also used in relation to the woman’s second husband. First husband: Bastian VasquezNorwegian-Chilean IS fighter. Born on 9 April 1990, in Skien in Telemark and Vestfold. Was married to the terror accused IS woman. The two had a son together (6). In an interview with news, she pointed to Vasquez as the reason she traveled to Syria. In September 2012, Vasquez participated in a demonstration with the Prophet’s Ummah in Oslo, with Arfan Bhatti among others. In the same year, Vasquez is featured in a YouTube video with threats against the royal house. Goes to Syria, probably in October 2012. In January 2013, a picture is published where Vasquez and another well-known Islamist, Mohyeldeen Mohammad from Larvik, are holding an IS flag in Syria. In the summer of 2014, Vasquez appears in an IS propaganda film. According to Norwegian police, Vasquez died in connection with the manufacture of bombs for IS in April 2015. Second husband: “The Sharia judge” The woman’s second husband in Syria. Supposed to be from Egypt. Has a child with the terrorist-indicted Norwegian-Pakistani woman, a girl born in 2016. “Actively participated in armed missions for the organization and he was also a Sharia judge for ISIL,” according to the indictment. facilitate this husband to participate in IS, by taking care of joint children. The Sharia judge died fighting for IS/ISIL in March 2017, according to the indictment. Third husband: Friend of the Sharia judge, Egyptian man. Associated with IS, according to the prosecution. Married the IS woman after the sharia judge died fighting for IS in March 2017. Was a friend of the sharia judge, according to the indictment against the IS woman. The defendant has explained that she does not believe the man had IS affiliation, but lived by selling yogurt and mobile phones. The defendant says this man tried to help her leave Syria. Other actors Ubaydullah HussainNorwegian Islamist, born 20 August 1985. Full name is Arslan Ubaydullah Maroof Hussain. Currently serving a sentence of 9 years in prison for participation in IS, and two cases of terrorist recruitment. First known as spokesperson for the Islamist group Prophet’s Ummah .Hussain had contact with the woman accused of terrorism, who became part of the environment around the Prophet’s Ummah. Aisha Shezadi Kausar Born in Bærum hospital, raised in Bærum. Became nationally known when she participated in the public social debate from 2010 to talk about her use of the niqab. Went to Syria in 2014. Took a son from Norway with him. The son lost his life in Syria. Kausar has also been married to Bastian Vasquez, and lived in the same house as the woman charged with terrorism in Syria. In 2018, Kausar wrote a letter to the Norwegian authorities, in which she asked for help to get to Norway. In 2019, Kausar told news that she regretted the letter. Kausar is interned in the camp Roj in north-east Syria. Little sister from BærumBorn 1997. One of the main characters in Åsne Seierstad’s book “To søstre”. Must have known the woman accused of terrorism through the religious association Islam Net. Informed the family that she was on her way to Syria in October 2013. The woman has been wanted and is under investigation by PST. In October 2021 she told news that she wants to return to Norway. Older sister from Bærum Born 1993. One of the main characters in Åsne Seierstad’s book “To sisters”. Supposed to have met the woman accused of terrorism through the religious association Islam Net. Informed the family that she was on her way to Syria in October 2013. Married a Norwegian foreign fighter in Syria. The woman has is wanted and under investigation by PST. In October 2021, she told news that she wants to return to Norway.
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Woman (32) sentenced in the Supreme Court for IS participation – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
