The Ministry of Foreign Affairs raised the Nygaard case with Iran. – news Documentary

Relations between Norway and Iran have been strained since the assassination attempt on William Nygaard in 1993. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs now confirms that the matter was taken up when Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani visited Norway in early June. But the ministry will not yet say anything concrete about the content of the talks. “The government attaches great importance to freedom of expression and the press in our international work for human rights. We believe it is right to address the Nygaard case both as a specific case and in principle, in Norway’s relationship with Iran, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs writes in a reply to Storting representative Abid Raja. The ministry writes that the matter has also been raised politically with the Iranian ambassador to Norway. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs took up the Nygaard case when Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani visited Norway Photo: Åse Marit Befring / news – Praiseworthy William Nygaard’s development assistance lawyer Hallvard Helle says that he is happy that the case was taken up. – Silence and impunity for international state terrorism aimed directly at freedom of expression is intolerable. Therefore, it is good that the attack on Nygaard is now specifically addressed in the political dialogue between Norway and Iran, says Helle. The criminal case is still unsolved. Just before the limitation period in 2018, Kripos charged two people with the crime. One was a Lebanese with ties to Hezbollah. The other was a diplomat who worked at the Iranian embassy from 1989 to 1993. – We also assume that the Norwegian prosecuting authority, for its part, investigates the case with undiminished vigor and uses all the tools they have to solve the case, says Helle. Photo: Mohammed Alayoubi / news news has previously made a number of attempts to talk to the accused diplomat. But every time the phone has been hung up. Emails to the department he works at in Tehran have not been answered. The diplomat came early in the spotlight after the assassination attempt on William Nygaard. He has not been questioned by Norwegian police. The Iranian embassy in Norway has previously denied that the diplomat had anything to do with the case, and characterized the claim as totally unfounded. The Iranian embassy has previously rejected the claim that the diplomat has participated in the assassination attempt on William Nygaard Photo: Olav Hasselknippe / Aftenposten



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