This is revealed in State Attorney Geir Evanger’s final submission to the Supreme Court. In April this year, a Norwegian-Pakistani woman was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for participating in the terrorist organization IS. The Borgarting Court of Appeal also determined that the woman had been a victim of human trafficking for several years. This helped to give her a reduced sentence. The prosecution disagreed with this, and appealed the case. In just under two weeks, the appeal case will be decided in the Supreme Court. Evanger now writes that, after a “new and thorough assessment”, the prosecution has come to the conclusion that the woman must be considered a victim of human trafficking from April 2015 to March 2019. State prosecutor Geir Evanger and defense attorney Nils Christian Nordhus during the criminal case against the woman who were brought out last year of the al-Hol camp with his two children. Photo: Torstein Bøe / NTB State attorney believes IS forced the woman The woman traveled to Syria in February 2013. The country was ravaged by civil war, and various extreme groups had emerged. In Syria, the woman teamed up with Norwegian Bastian Vasquez, whom she had married over the internet. Both were part of an extreme Islamist milieu in Norway. The woman was brought to Norway with her children in 2020, which was the trigger for the FRP’s exit from Erna Solberg’s government. The Court of Appeal found it proven that the woman was a participant in IS from June 2013 to April 2015 by being a stay-at-home housewife. During this period, the Court of Appeal held that the woman was not a victim of human trafficking. However, after Vasquez died, she became a victim of human trafficking, the appeals court said. Bastian Vasquez starred in a propaganda video published by IS when the terrorist group declared it had established a caliphate in Syria and Iraq. Photo: Al Hayat The woman wanted to travel to Norway, but according to the verdict, she had no realistic choice but to remarry. The judges believe IS exploited her for forced labour. Now the prosecution thinks the same. In the final submission, the public prosecutor writes: “As a widow with a small child, she was undoubtedly in a vulnerable situation and she really had no choice but to remarry. In that sense, the organization forced her into a situation where she had to do chores at home, have children and provide sexual services. Because of the great importance of women to ISIL, the organization undoubtedly benefited from pressuring NN to remarry and have her take care of her new husbands and have children”. Human trafficking in the Criminal Code § 257. Human trafficking Anyone who, through violence, threats, abuse of a vulnerable situation or other inappropriate behavior, forces, exploits or seduces a person into a. prostitution or other sexual services, b. forced labor or forced services, including begging, c. military service in a foreign country, or d. to consent to the removal of one of the person’s internal organs, is punished for human trafficking with imprisonment for up to 6 years. (Source: Lovdata) The public prosecutor’s office still wants severe punishment The public prosecutor’s office still believes that the woman must be punished for participating in the entire period she was in Syria. Evanger points out that the woman must have known that she could end up in such a situation that she would be refused to go home. “If the Criminal Code (…) is to be understood in such a way that a transition from voluntary participation to forced participation means that participation suddenly becomes legal, then it will undermine the entire penal provision”. news has been in contact with Evanger, who does not wish to comment on the matter now. Defender: – Not surprised The woman’s defender argues in his closing submission that marriage and housework cannot be considered participation in a terrorist organisation. Lawyer Nils Christian Nordhus believes that the woman was exposed to human trafficking throughout her stay. About the prosecution’s new assessment, Nordhus says: – We are not surprised. It is an important recognition, but it comes too late, writes the defender in a text message to news. Lawyer Nils Christian Nordhus is the defender of the woman convicted of terrorism. Photo: Even Bjøringsøy Johnsen / news
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Believes woman convicted of terrorism was victim of human trafficking – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
