Radical Kurdish cleric Mullah Krekar ends jail term this month

by Znar Shino

OSLO, Norway - Mullah Krekar, the radical Kurdish cleric and founder of the Kurdish al-Qaeda affiliate Ansar al-Islam, is expected to be released this month from the Norwegian prison where he has been serving a jail term since April 2012. 

Krekar was initially sentenced to five years for threatening to kill the then conservative politician Erna Solberg, who is now Norway’s prime minister.  The appellate court later reduced his sentence to 34 months. 

Officials at the rehabilitation center where Krekar is serving his term confirmed to Rudaw that the hard-line cleric’s jail term ends on January 24.

It is not clear whether Krekar will be deported back to the Kurdistan Region upon his release or allowed to remain in Norway, an official from the Norwegian justice ministry told Rudaw.  “I don’t want to discuss this issue right now,” he said.

Norwegian law prohibits the return of criminals to their home countries where they may face the death penalty. In 2013, negotiations for Krekar’s deportation to Iraq failed after  Iraqi officials could not promise Norway that the cleric would not face torture or execution after deportation.

Krekar was reportedly interrogated by the German and Swiss secret police in prison for alleged involvement in terrorist activities in the respective countries.

German police first questioned Krekar in 2004, when three members of Ansar al-Islam were arrested in Germany for an assassination attempt on the life of the then Iraqi prime minister Iyad Alawi, during a visit to Germany.

Krekar’s attorney Brynjar Meling said his client is unlikely to be transferred to Germany for further interrogation after his release. 

Some local Norwegian media reported that Krekar’s brother, Khalid Ranjdar, has been negotiating Krekar’s return to Kurdistan.  But Ranjdar denied any such negotiations with Kurdish officials.

Ranjdar, who recently visited his brother in prison, claimed that the two had only discussed the recent developments in the Kurdistan Region and the emergence of the Islamic State (ISIS).

Commenting on whether Krekar would remain in Norway after his release, Ranjdar wrote: “because of the prison situation and his upcoming release we cannot say anything about this.”

The 58-year-old Krekar was born in Sulaimani and is the father of four children. He completed a Masters degree in Islamic studies in Pakistan and moved to Norway in 1991. He established the Salafist jihadi group Ansar al-Islam in 1994.

The Norwegian conservative party in 2002 raised the issue of national security anddemanded his deportation. In 2004, he served a six-month jail sentence, and two years later the United States and United Nations put his name on a terror list. In 2010, he survived an assassination attempt in Norway.