On June 14, the Norwegian Islamist Arfan Bhatti posted a call for the killing of gays on Facebook. Neither the Oslo police nor PST will answer whether this was discovered and assessed.
Less than 20 minutes ago
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The gay hatred on Bhatti’s profile was posted in the middle of Pride month – the week before Zaniar Matapour (43) opened fire on the nightclubs Per on the corner and the London pub. After the shooting has the record has been deleted by Facebook.
Arfan Bhatti (44) is convicted several times, and has been a leader in the controversial group The Prophet’s Ummah. The group has openly supported the extremist group The Islamic State in Syria and Iraq (ISIL), also called IS, and recruited more to the war in Syria.
–PST is responsible for assessing the threat picture in Norway. Ever since June 25, the day after the mass shooting, VG has asked repeated questions about whether Bhatti’s Facebook post was intercepted by the Police Security Service (PST) or the Oslo Police District before the shooting took place.
VG has also questioned whether the information in that case flowed to the Oslo police district, which was responsible for security during the Pride parade.
Neither PST nor the Oslo police want to answer that.
–PST has previously stated to VG that they did not have indications that Pride could be a more exposed event than usual this year.
Minister of Justice and Emergency Preparedness Emilie Enger Mehl (Sp) has requested that PST’s and the police’s handling of the mass shooting in Oslo be evaluated.
Police: – Working broadly
When asked if the Oslo police district was familiar with the Facebook post from Bhatti, and if so, did it have any impact on their security plan for Pride, Sigrun Farstad in the communication staff answers:
– We do not want now, for tactical reasons, to comment on individuals or specific assessments, beyond what has been communicated.
At the same time, the Oslo police write that an extensive investigation of the mass shooting is underway, where motive and possible participation are central.
– We still work broadly and according to several hypotheses and where all information is thoroughly and continuously assessed. As of now, there is only one accused in the case, he is charged with murder and attempted murder with terrorist intent.
Police have confirmed that both psychiatry and hate crime are hypotheses they are investigating. So far, the accused has not wanted to be questioned.
–VG has also asked whether the Oslo police were notified by PST about the homosexuality on Bhatti’s profile, and whether they were notified by PST about other matters related to Bhatti or the terrorist suspect. They do not want to comment on the dialogue with PST.
Matapour is charged with murder, attempted murder and terrorist acts. John Christian Elden, who defends both Matapour and Arfan Bhatti.
About Bhatti’s posts on Facebook, Elden writes the following in a message to VG:
– The police have now confirmed to me in writing that Bhatti is neither charged nor suspected in any other cases than the knife in the car from April, so this is probably of less interest.
–Multiple links
Already the day after the mass shooting in Oslo, it became known that Matapour in April this year was stopped by the police in a car with Bhatti. It was after this that he was summoned to one concern interview at PST.
Later it has also become known that Bhatti and Matapour have been in the same chat group on the encrypted messaging service WhatsApp.
The Facebook update to Arfan Bhatti from June 14 shows a forbidden sign with a rainbow flag inside, and a so-called hadith. It is a short story that must originate from the words of the Prophet Muhammad. VG has been translated from Arabic to Norwegian:
“If you find anyone who commits the deed of the people of Lut, kill him who does it and it will be done.”
“Lut people’s deeds” can be translated as “sexual intercourse between two men”. Les more about this here. On the same day, Bhatti’s cover image was changed to a burning pride flag.
–– Part of PST’s work
On Saturday 25 June, the day after the shooting, VG PST chief Roger Berg asked what is the chain reaction of a post of this type from an actor like Bhatti.
– It is part of PST’s work that we follow. We make overall assessments and see how we can put it in context. All information is relevant to us, he replied, adding:
– We make an overall assessment of these environments, and I do not want to go into individuals. But people who speak out to motivate violence are relevant to us. It is allowed to say things, to mean things strongly in the liberal democracy we live in. It is in the moment you take action that you react.
– Here there is a threat actor who comes with a threat, is this communicated on to, for example, the Pride community?
– I do not go directly into the incident, now it is being investigated by the police, and then it is natural that the police make the assessments they are supposed to make.
– Did PST have any concerns related to Pride from the extreme Islamist milieu?
– We always have concerns about large events We are worried ahead of May 17, ahead of Pride, because we see it creates aggression for some. Had we had specific concerns that would have enabled us to arrest (Matapour, journ.anm.), We would have done so. The posterity will show if we have missed out on information.
VG has been in contact with the organizer of the Pride parade. They do not want to comment on whether they had received information about the Facebook post, or details about the security assessments before this year’s parade.
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