On Monday 27 June last year, a solidarity demonstration was planned outside the town hall in Oslo. The background was the terrorist attack in Oslo on 25 June. Two people were killed and many injured when Zaniar Matapour opened fire on several nightclubs in the city center on the night of Saturday, where many had gathered to celebrate pride. On Sunday evening 26 June, city councilor Raymond Johansen urged people to support the commemoration, and police chief Beate Gangås was determined to secure the event. WANTED MARKING: City councilor Raymond Johansen (Ap) and former police chief in Oslo Beate Gangås during a press conference on Sunday 26 June. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB But in a meeting of the Government’s Security Committee (RSU) on Monday afternoon, the PST chief conveyed a number of dramatic messages. The committee is chaired by Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. CHAIRED MEETING: In the government’s security committee, the government discusses and decides on important issues related to security and preparedness. On Monday 27 June, the government discussed terrorist attacks that had occurred two days earlier. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB In the meeting, PST chief Roger Berg said that people were willing to “sacrifice themselves”, according to the report from the committee that evaluated the police and PST after the terrorist attack. It was also said that several people who could have been involved in the attack were at large, and there was information about weapons acquisitions. The information from PST led to the event being cancelled, for which the authorities have received strong criticism. The head of the organization Fri has stated that the queer community was robbed of the opportunity to express itself. Now news can tell more details about what PST feared could happen during the commemoration. news does not know what was said during the meeting of the Government’s security committee, but in PST as an organization this must have been some of the concerns: One of the people PST feared could attack during the commemoration, for example by using a bomb vest, was a woman convicted of terrorism with a Somali background. The woman had finished serving a sentence for participation in IS, and lived in the capital area. PST knew that the woman had been in contact with the central Islamist Arfan Bhatti in the time before the attack. They also believed that she had previously talked about suicide attacks as a possible method. At this time, the woman had just been deported from Norway, but was waiting to be deported. On 1 June, a few weeks before the terror attack, the Ministry of Justice had expelled her. Thus, “she had nothing to lose”, say several sources to news. PST also feared several other people who could have been involved in the attack on Saturday, but who were still at large. Two of them were later charged with complicity in the terrorist attack. They deny criminal guilt. The woman PST had a concern about was transported to Somalia in August this year, as news has previously told. The woman’s defender, lawyer Svein Holden, has no comment on the information. – New and dangerous information It was acting PST chief Roger Berg who was present during the meeting of the government’s security committee. He recommended that the solidarity marking should be postponed – which it was. While the meeting was still going on, one of the participants went out into the hallway. The person called police chief Gangås, who was told to recommend a cancellation of the event. GOT THE PHONE: On Monday at 1:27 p.m., the Director of Emergency Management in the Directorate of Police calls Police Chief Beate Gangås. She is told that it is not advisable to arrange the commemoration, which is planned for the same afternoon. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB The Evaluation Committee believes the recommendation was a violation of human rights, more specifically the right to exercise freedom of expression in a peaceful assembly. The committee came up with its report in June this year. The committee believes that the decision of the director of police was based on a misunderstanding that the Oslo police district was not aware of the threat. On Friday last week, there was a hearing on the evaluation report in the Storting. There, Berg answered in the affirmative to questions about whether he had given information to the government that was significantly different from what the Oslo police had put forward. LIVES COULD BE LOST: Former PST chief Roger Berg gave information which led to the cancellation of the solidarity marking on 27 June. He feared that terrorists would attack the commemoration. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB – That’s right. We continuously received new information, very worrying information, answered Roger Berg. According to Berg, the PST relied on information that the attack had not been completed, and that specific individuals were willing to strike again. Berg said during the meeting that the information was so dangerous that the marking could not be carried out on the same day. – On the basis of very dangerous information we had, which I can possibly – if I am challenged on it – take in a closed setting, because the information is very concrete, Berg told the politicians in the control committee. He will not be interviewed by news. On Monday, there will be a closed part of the hearing, where those summoned can provide graded information. PACKED DOWN: Three and a half hours before the event was due to start, the counter notification came. The Oslo police district recommended that the commemoration should be cancelled. Photo: Annika Byrde / NTB – I was instructed When Beate Gangås was called during the meeting of the government’s security committee on Monday afternoon, the police chief was not told the background to the decision. The reason was that the information was so sensitive that it could not be discussed over the phone. – My opinion then was that they were relying on a completely different information base than we were relying on, the former police chief explained during the hearing. – I was instructed to recommend a cancellation, she said. OPEN HEARING: Beate Gangås was police chief in the Oslo police district when the terror struck. She initially thought the marking could be carried out, but received a counter notification from the Norwegian Police Directorate. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB Later that day, the police chief went to PST’s premises in Nydalen in Oslo, where she found out more. During the hearing, Gangås answered affirmatively that the information she then received was new. – Yes, there was new information. There was continuous development during the day, the former police chief told the control committee at the Storting. In an interview with news after the hearing, Gangås will not answer specifically whether what she heard was so shocking that it was right to cancel the event. – When you received the information that the instructions were based on, did you understand those instructions? – Yes, I understood a lot more about it then, of course. But it came from people I trust a lot, so there was no reason to doubt their intentions. – But did you agree with that assessment of that information? – It is difficult to relate to me. That was the decision that had been made and we had to deal with it. That’s what we stood for then, says Gangås, who is today the head of PST. TOGETHER ANYWAY: Many in the queer community were angry and disappointed after the event on Monday was cancelled. Thousands defied the police and the organizer and showed up anyway. Photo: Håkon Benjaminsen / news Selvmordschat At the end of September last year, two men were arrested for complicity in the terror on 25 June. It has also emerged that Arfan Bhatti is said to have singled out the Somali woman as a potential suicide bomber. It is said to have happened in a chat in August 2022. An agent in the Norwegian Intelligence Service pretended to be an IS leader in a conversation with what the police believe to be Bhatti. In the chat, the man the police believe to be Bhatti is said to have told about a “sister” from Somalia, who he suggested could carry out a terrorist attack using a bomb vest: “I think she could pull the vest” and “maybe use the small arms with a little training (…) “she has talked to me about it earlier”, wrote what is supposed to be Bhatti about the woman. The man, who the police believe to be Bhatti, wrote that the woman made contact after she had finished serving her terror sentence: “she took contact with me after prison time (…) as she had heard of me”. Defender Svein Holden has previously told VG that what is written about her in the chat is not true. – My client is shaken by the information she has been given by VG. She maintains that the information about her is a complete fabrication, Holden told the newspaper. Bhatti’s defender has previously told news that there is no evidence that the messages have anything to do with Bhatti. Bhatti is charged with complicity in aggravated terrorism. The Norwegian authorities are trying to have the Islamist extradited from Pakistan. IN LINKS: Arfan Bhatti is charged with complicity in serious terrorism. This is a serious charge, with a maximum penalty of 30 years.
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Feared suicide attack by IS woman during commemoration – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
