The three Iraqi brothers and their mother have all been placed in pre-trial detention for four weeks. According to the court, it is highly realistic that the attack may have been a commissioned assignment.
At approximately one o’clock on the night to Sunday, a bomb exploded at the United States Embassy in Oslo. On Wednesday the police proceeded to arrest three brothers. All hold Norwegian citizenship and have a background from Iraq.
The brothers are 20, 21 and 28 years old.
On Friday it also emerged that the police have arrested their mother, who is 54 years old.
The police have no prior knowledge of any of the four from earlier, the police confirmed at a press conference recently.
On Friday afternoon all four were placed in pre-trial detention for four weeks. It is the 20-year-old brother who is charged with a direct violation of Penal Code § 138, while the others are charged with complicity. It is also he who has admitted to having placed the bomb.
Ǥ 138. Terror bombing
Imprisonment for up to 21 years shall be imposed on anyone who sends, places, fires or detonates an explosive device or another potentially lethal device at, in or against a public place, a governmental or public facility, a public infrastructure facility or a public transport system, with intent to cause loss of human life or significant damage to body, property or the environment.»
Architect trouble
The family from Iraq lives in the eastern part of Oslo and does not appear to come from a poor background. Their father worked as an architect, but seven years ago he lost the right to call himself “Arkitekt MNAL”, a title protected for those who hold a master’s degree and comply with the association’s ethical regulations.
The background was serious breaches of the association’s regulations. In the years preceding the expulsion he had been sentenced in the Court of Appeal to pay compensation to dissatisfied clients, and he has been declared personally bankrupt. Nevertheless, he has remained active in a number of construction projects.
According to an appraisal report, the project of the Iraqi architect was described as “a colossal fraud”.
– Commissioned assignment
The family is registered with several sole proprietorships, and the mother, who has now been placed in detention, has among other things worked in cleaning. The sons in their twenties have different careers, and the eldest states that he has an education as an engineer.
In the court’s ruling it is described as a “real possibility that the attack was a commissioned assignment”. This is a highly unusual formulation in a Norwegian court. Swedish police have stated a suspicion that it may be connected to the Foxtrot milieu.
According to the court, the interrogations were not helpful in providing an explanation for the terror bombing. “Striking ambiguities regarding the role of those involved,” the court writes, and that the explanations do not provide a “comprehensive explanation” of the circumstances.
The youngest brother has admitted that he placed the bomb. The others deny criminal guilt.
Shortly after the attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran, warnings came from PST about increased concern regarding attacks organised by Iranian intelligence. It was only days before the bomb exploded at the United States Embassy at Huseby in Oslo.
On Friday evening it was announced by the defence counsel of the 28-year-old brother that he will appeal the detention decision.
– It is based on speculation that is not anchored in the evidentiary situation, defence counsel Frode Sulland writes in a message to NTB.