The questioning of the youngest of the two sisters from Bærum continued in court this week. The prosecution focused on the time before the 16-year-old sneaked out of his childhood home and headed for Syria. – It was a tiring time, but also very exciting. I had never had a big secret from the family before, the 27-year-old said. The prosecution believes the teenager was radicalized when she left, which the sister denies. As evidence of the defendant’s interests, the prosecution presented photos and videos found on her mobile phone and computer. WOMAN WITH A WEAPON: This is among the photos presented in court on Thursday. MARTYRDOM: A quote about martyrdom. KRIGER: The youngest sister explained that she thought such pictures were “tough”. This image shows an armed man with the Arab creed on his chest. The defendant searched for words such as “jihad women”, “death nasheed”, Taliban and Al Qaeda. – I think it was general curiosity, the sister said in court to explain the searches. SEARCH HISTORY: “Panty bomber” Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, who tried to blow up a passenger plane, and Nidal Hassan, who killed several people in a mass shooting in the United States, are among the people the youngest sister is said to have applied for. Photo: Scanpix/AFP She explained that topics such as jihad were taboo in Islam, and she was interested in finding out more. According to herself, she concluded that Al Qaeda did not engage in the right kind of jihad, but that the rebels in Syria did. – I saw in them someone who defended the oppressed, she said. – Was a golden ticket to paradise In December 2012, the youngest sister talked to a friend on the Viber application. The friend said she was tempted to go to Syria and join the jihad. “Hekk jah i have a dream!!!!!”, replied the defendant. She further wrote that her motto was to live a praiseworthy life and die a martyr. Martyrdom has a particularly important place in jihadist thought. The idea is that whoever gives his life for Islam goes directly to paradise. Osama bin Laden was among the terrorists who played on this. In a speech aimed at the West, he spoke of how the jihadists love death “as you love life”. PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE: Public prosecutor Anne Karoline Bakken Staff (in the middle) is in charge of questioning the youngest sister. State prosecutor Marit Formo on the right and police prosecutor in PST Kathrine Tonstad on the left. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB – Were you interested in becoming a martyr? asked prosecutor Anne Karoline Bakken Staff. – It is an interesting topic in Islam. It’s a golden ticket to paradise. So yes, it was something that interested me, answered the 27-year-old. She said she understood it would be dangerous to do aid work in Syria, but that she had a guarantee that she would go to paradise if she was killed. Talk of doomsday Life after death was a theme the youngest sister returned to when the journey was a fact. On 17 October 2013, the girls had sneaked out of their childhood home and flown to Turkey. They sent an email to the family and checked into a hotel. PROFILE PICTURE: The day before she left for Syria, the youngest sister changed her profile picture on Facebook. Mujahida is an Arabic word. It means the one who performs jihad or the one who strives for the cause of God. Photo: PST That same evening, they wrote messages with their brother and father, who in a panic tried to get the girls back. By this time, several Norwegians had already gone down as foreign fighters, and some had already been killed. The youngest sister wrote that she was aware that she hurt the family, but: “I fear what ALLAH will ask me on the day of judgment.” She explained that she was not thinking about life now, but life after death. The idea was that if she died as a martyr, she would have an opportunity to get her parents into paradise. “If you were given the chance to speak on behalf of your parents on the Day of Judgment (..) and speaking for them could be what gets them into jannah, wouldn’t you do EVERYTHING in your power to get this opportunity? », she asked her brother. Prosecutor Anne Karoline Bakken Staff asked her sister how she thought about this. – If I die while helping people, I will go to paradise. As a reward, I get to speak for my family on judgment day. – The idea was that I don’t do it just for selfish reasons. I do it for everyone, the defendant explained. – Would you say the same today, asked the prosecutor. – Actually no. I’m not as short-sighted. It’s not as black and white. TWO SISTERS: The sisters on the prosecution bench in Oslo District Court. Seven weeks have been set aside for the trial. Photo: Ane Hem / NTB – I was just a baby The prosecution believes that the defendant’s plan was never to do aid work, but to join the terrorist organization IS. The 27-year-old was therefore challenged as to why she did not contact any aid organizations before she left. DEFENDERS: Lawyer Hilde Firman Fjellså defends the youngest sister. Geir Lippestad (left) defends the elder. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB – If we made contact before we left, we were 99 percent sure to get a no, said the sister: – But if we have already left, they would have no choice but to let us contribute if we left to a refugee camp. In Syria, she quickly realized that this was not going to happen. She has explained how the eldest sister’s husband laughed derisively when she suggested they stop at a refugee camp to offer help. – I was just a child, she repeated several times before the court when she had her free explanation. PROPAGANDIST: Anwar al Awlaki was one of the foremost propagandists in Al Qaeda. – It must have been a rabbit hole I went down, explained the youngest about the interest in him. Photo: PST Planned camp for women The youngest sister had just turned 16 when she traveled to Syria. After a few months, she married a British foreign fighter. The marriage was characterized by coercion and strict demands from the husband, according to the explanation. The indictment states that in the spring of 2014 she prepared to start a military training camp for women in IS, and that she acquired knowledge about weapons and ammunition. In court, she has explained that this was not a camp for IS women. – I used the word muaskar, and it means military training camp, but it can also be used as a training camp, or “boot camp”. The idea of protecting oneself was important. She says the idea was to teach women about self-defense. – It was never under the auspices of IS, and it was never for IS women, and it was never militant. She got this “idea” from a woman she lived with, but it was never carried out, she explained. Published 31.10.2024, at 16.27
ttn-69
– It was a golden ticket to paradise – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
