OSLO, Norway – While efforts have been underway to facilitate the return of firebrand Islamic preacher Mulla Krekar to the Kurdistan Region, a court in Norway has banished him to a remote Norwegian village, reportedly pending deportation to Italy.
The Oslo court upheld a decision to transfer the 58-year-old preacher, who admits to founding the al-Qaeda affiliated Ansar al-Islam and whose real name is Najmeddine Faraj Ahmad, to a refugee center in Kyrksaeteroera, a village of 2,500 people 500 kilometers from the capital.
“With some misgivings, the court considers that the basic national interest, at least until 31 December 2015, must take precedence over Faraj’s right to a family life, freedom to move freely throughout the country and to choose his own place of residence,” the court verdict read.
Krekar was released from prison in Norway at the end of January, after a two-year sentence for threats against Prime Minister Erna Solberg, before she came to office, and three Kurds.
He has faced multiple legal charges in Norway, where he has lived with his family since 1991.
Meanwhile, the Aftenposten newspaper reported Monday that, where authorities may want to question him about allegedly running a network to recruit jihadists in several European countries.
Krekar, a flamboyant Kurdish Islamist in exile, is wanted in Kurdistan for terrorism charges dating back to the late 1990s and early 2000, when he founded the jihadist Ansar al- Islam. He declared a caliphate-like colony in the southern Kurdish towns of Biara and Tawela in the run up to the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
The US air force demolished Ansar al-Islam strongholds after the Iraq invasion and dismantled the group’s network.
Kurdish authorities say Ansar al-Islam was responsible for killing and torturing numbers of locals in the area who resisted the caliphate and want to try Krekar for the atrocities.
Leading Kurdish Islamist parties with political strength have reportedly pushed authorities in Kurdistan to terminate the charges against Krekar and ease his return.
“We know that Mulla Krekar’s brother has been in talks with the authorities in Kurdistan to make the (legal) arrangements for his return,” Muhammad Hakim, a senior spokesperson for Kurdistan’s Islamic Society (KIS), said recently.
“We would be happy to have him (Krekar) among us, if he chooses to continue his struggle within our party,” Hakim added. Similar remarks have been voiced by other Islamist parties.
