– We are very pleased with that. This means that there is still an active investigation and it is important for the case to be resolved, says Nygård’s lawyer, Halvard Helle to news. 31 years ago, publisher William Nygaard was shot three times outside his own home. The Attorney General has now overturned the Oslo State Prosecutor’s Office’s decision to drop the criminal case following the assassination of William Nygaard, reports the law firm Schjødt. The Attorney General has also ordered a further investigation, including by attempting to carry out questioning of the two accused persons and new questioning of a very central witness in the case. – This is a victory for freedom of expression and a sharp signal that there should not be impunity for international state terrorism, says William Nygaard. The assassination attempt against William Nygaard Publishing boss William Nygaard was shot in the courtyard outside his own home in Oslo on 11 October 1993. He was hit by three coarse-calibre projectiles, but survived. The assassination was quickly linked to the fact that Nygaard was responsible for publishing the book “Satanic Verses” by Salman Rushdie. Iran’s spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini had issued a death sentence on the author, his publishers and translators. The police invested considerable resources in the investigation. A Norwegian-Pakistani man has been arrested in the case, but was later released. He is not among the current accused. The case was dropped in 2007, but reopened in 2009 following criticism of the police investigation. In 2018 – shortly before the case became obsolete – Kripos charged two people with the assassination. In November 2021, news revealed that one is the Lebanese Khaled Moussawi. At the same time, news revealed that the other accused is an Iranian who was a diplomat at the country’s embassy in Oslo in 1993. On 9 April 2024, 31 years after the assassination attempt, the public prosecutor in Oslo dropped the case. Shot three times For over 30 years, the police have tried to find out who shot William Nygaard on 11 October 1993. Outside his own home in Oslo, the then publishing manager in Aschehoug was hit in the back by three expanding bullets. Just before the case became obsolete in 2018, Kripos charged two people with complicity in premeditated attempted murder and attacks on central societal values. The Nygaard assassination Salman Rushdie’s novel “The Satanic Verses” is published. It is quickly banned in several countries. In Norway, sales begin the following year, in 1989. Iran’s spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini gives a speech in which he asks all Muslims to kill Rushdie, his publishers and translators. Two of Rushdie’s translators were attacked. One of them, Italian Ettore Caprioli, survived. Japanese Hitoshi Igarishi was killed. A little after 08:30 Nygaard is shot three times outside his home in Dagaliveien in Oslo. The police start an investigation. The police search the home of Lebanese Khaled Moussawi, whom they suspect in connection with the assassination attempt. The police found no grounds to charge Moussawi. The police take the plane to Karachi in Pakistan to question another man they thought might be involved, Ali (24). He was one of the few people in Norway who owned the same type of weapon that was used during the assassination. Ali flies to Norway. He is arrested and taken to the detention center for further questioning. He ends up being released. The police are scaling back the investigation and were “nowhere near a solution”, according to the head of the investigation. At the same time, Kripos is put on the case. The police drop the case. The public prosecutor asks the public prosecutor to go through the case again. Kripos starts a new investigation. Kripos charges two people for the assassination attempt. One of them is Lebanese Moussawi, the other is an Iranian citizen who worked at the Iranian embassy between 1989-93. The case is now being dealt with by state attorney Lars Erik Alfheim, who will decide what happens next. Show more Fornøyde Nygård’s lawyer says that the reversal of the closure will contribute to the two accused, who according to him are in Lebanon and Iran, will be attempted to be questioned for the first time. Published 23/07/2024, at 11.58 Updated 23.07.2024, at 12.18
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The Attorney General overturns the closure of the criminal case following the assassination of William Nygaard
