The third week of the trial against the two Bærum sisters accused of terrorism is underway. In court, the 30-year-old has explained on several occasions that she traveled to Syria to carry out aid work back in 2013 and that she saw IS as one of several groups in the area. That she ended up with them was completely accidental, according to her. Despite the fact that she spoke to an IS fighter before she left, whom she later married. Geir Lippestad defends the eldest sister. Hilde Firman Fjellså defends the youngest. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB The prosecutor continued to question the eldest sister on Tuesday. Extensive material from social media is a large part of the evidence in the case against them. Both pictures they have published and downloaded, but also conversations they have had with friends. The sisters have explained that they were afraid that the activity had been monitored by their husbands, and that they had to behave in order to take care of themselves. – Are you crazy? It was in October 2013 that the sisters traveled from Bærum to Syria. The eldest sister explained that it was in December of the same year that she realized that the stay was not going to be as she had imagined. The prosecutor in the case, Marit Formo, showed chats the eldest sister had with a friend back home in Norway a little later during her stay in Syria. Read excerpts of the slave conversation here Accused: what do you think about the fact that we have quite a few Kurdish slaves? which are the property of those who own them? don’t forget that the prophet saw had slaves Girlfriend: You are so ridiculous that it doesn’t work. What do you think about rape? Correct or? Defendant: why is a simple question. I think the brothers can sleep with their slaves as they please. Why? Because the Prophet, peace be upon him, slept with his slaves. did he or didn’t he? Friend: What the fwen are you shot in the head? Accused: read sirah he slept with his slaves Friend: No where do you get your shit from .. fear allah.. swear you don’t understand what you are saying (…) Friend: Listen you are brainwashed.. you stuck to “jihad” left without mhram and all the way to syria .. left your parents without permission.. went to marry without permission.. without wali… when you already have a father or brother as your wali… you broke your parents. And you know very well that jihad is not compulsory for women.. and you went down there without any shit.. and were brainwashed in addition… do you realize that in principle you have started completely wrong???????? (…) what ISIS is doing is wrong from the start… Rape in Islam is forbidden regardless of who commits it. The fact that ISIS rapes/lies is wrong… You must treat your prisoners of war well, with respect. Raping is the opposite! They are not slaves.. You are idiots selling and buying people. What the hell are you guys!????? Accused: I will hold you responsible for what you say on the day of judgment you who do not even wear hijab should speak to me one who has done hijra as rasul ALLAH did about what is right and wrong. Ridiculous. Accused: These are facts the prophet saw had slave girls he slept with. You, like everyone else, will soon see who is on the right path. Don’t be fooled, I showed all the time what I was doing, no one was happy to wash me. I got this from the biography of the prophet saw, he did jihad, he did hijra and he had slave girls (…) The Yezidis, a religious minority in the Middle East, were subjected to genocide when IS captured the Sinjar area in northern Iraq in 2014. More A thousand women were captured and sold as sex slaves. A month after this happened, the eldest sister asks her friend in Norway what she thinks about them having slaves there. “Don’t forget that the prophet had slaves,” she adds as she challenges her friend on the question. She replies that she thinks the Bærum sisters are ridiculous. They are accused of having contributed to the terrorist organization IS. They risk 6 years in prison. Photo: Ane Hem / NTB The Jesidi women were sold as sex slaves and raped, often by several men. The UN considers this to be a war crime. The friend asks if the Bærum sisters are for rape. “I think the brothers can sleep with their slaves, if they want,” she replies, justifying it with the fact that “the prophet did it”. “What the hell are you shot in the head”, asks the friend who clearly disagrees and says that this is not allowed in Islam. The two friends are both frustrated. The friend says that traveling to Syria is crazy, and says that the Bærum sisters have been brainwashed. “No one has brainwashed me. I got this from the biography of the prophet,” she replies. In court, the sister said that these events were expected of her and that she could not say anything else. She was afraid that her husband would always see what she wrote, she tells the court. – I cannot take responsibility for these conversations. I wish I hadn’t had them: Marit Formo is leading the case against the sisters for the prosecution. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB – But as you can see further down in the conversation, I apologize. – If it was so controlled, and you were forced to write this. Did you then have the opportunity to apologise, challenges Formo. – I took the chance. I said sorry, replies the sister. “Would very much like to have you here” The 30-year-old repeated to the court that she has been under strict social control, and that she has not been able to express herself freely without risking supervision from her husband. In order to be able to have contact with friends back home in Norway, the conversations had to be “useful”. The prosecution believes that in such conversations the 30-year-old tried to get other Norwegian women to join IS. – I have had conversations with people and given a romanticized image, the 30-year-old said in court: – But it has never been my intention to make people travel. The eldest sister had downloaded this picture from the internet in the time before departure. It shows the IS flag. Photo: Cornelius Poppe / NTB As proof of this charge, the prosecution produced a Facebook chat between the accused and Norwegian Aisha Kausar. Kausar is today charged with complicity in the terrorist attack on 25 June 2022. At the time when the conversation took place, the accused Bærum sisters were in Syria. Kausar was at home in Norway with his newborn son. “I would really like to have you here sooooo,” the 30-year-old wrote to Kausar. In the conversation, it seems as if the eldest sister was looking for a husband for Kausar. They talk about what kind of ethnicities are “nice” and how tall Kausar is. “I don’t think you should marry a foreigner. Do you want to come here so that we can take care of you and your son”. In July 2014, Kausar traveled to the newly established IS caliphate with her child. The 30-year-old said in court that she was surprised when her friend turned up in Syria. After a few months, Kausar’s child died. The man she eventually married has been investigated for beating the boy to death. The case was eventually dropped, because the man was killed in Syria. In court, the eldest sister said that she regretted many conversations, but that she was under “social control” by her husband, and could not write anything else. – Are you saying that in Syria you tried to get others to leave?, Formo asked the defendant. – It may seem that way in the conversations, but I feel I have not done it. I do not want to say that I am the reason why Aisha left. – Can you have contributions? – It may certainly have contributed, but it was never the intention to get anyone to Syria. Published 29/10/2024, at 21.09
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“The brothers can sleep with their slaves if they want” – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
