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April 7, 2006

Norway: Immigration Row Involves Relative of Islamist

We reported earlier that the controversial Islamist Mullah Krekar (pictured) may soon be deported from Norway, where he has lived for 14 years, to Iraq, where he is wanted on terrorism charges.

Krekar is the founder of Ansar al Islam, one of the groups recently banned by the UK Home Office. Founded in September 2001 on one of Krekar's many visits to Iraq, the group, whose full name is Ansar al-Islam fi Kurdistan, or "Supporters of Islam in Kurdistan", is responsible for attacks mainly against women. It has closed down beauty salons and has burned a school for girls, and has caused the murder of women judged to be "un-Islamic" in the mainly Kurdish region of Biyarah near the border with Iran.

Krekar's group has links with Al Qaeda, and has been involved with suicide bombings in Iraq, including an attack on February 1, 2004, in which two Kurdish party offices were attacked, killing 109 people and injuring 200.

There is currently a political dispute in Norway, concerning the nation's Directorate of Immigration (UDI), which granted 182 Kurdish asylum seekers residence permits, apparently bypassing usual procedures. This decision, made on November 28 last year, was in breach of the policies of the outgoing government.

Now, according to Aftenposten it appears that the current head of the UDI, Manuela Ramin-Osmundsen (pictured below), was not only aware of the breach of procedural policy, but she also had numerous opportunities to report the decision, but did not. Only appointed last month, she is now on administrative leave until May 15.

Though Manuela Ramin-Osmundsen was scheduled to lead an inquiry into the affair, the current revelations have led to the inquiry being led by Hans Petter Graver, a law professor from Oslo, with the assistance of a court official from Haugesund and a consultant from Oslo.

Apart from the political ramifications of the way that the decision to grant residency to the 182 Kurds was made, the issue has gained a more controversial edge, because of the identity of one of those granted permits for at least a year.

As Aftenposten reported on April 4, this controversial individual is the mother in law of Mullah Krekar.

A former government minister, Erna Solberg, gave the UDI clear instructions that residence permits could only be given to those who had a job, who could support themselves and their families, could verify their identities and who had no criminal record. All others were to have been deported.

The issue of the residence permits, and in particular the fact that a member of Mullah Krekar's family being granted permission to stay, when he is seen as a threat to national security, has angered politicians. I is seen to insult other would-be immigrants who have had difficulties gaining the necessary credentials to secure residency permissions.

As we reported earlier, Krekar made a veiled threat last year against the nation which has housed him. Speaking on Al Jazeera TV on August 31, he suggested that if he should be returned from Norway to Iraq, "everyone must know" that this "is an offence that shouldn't be made without punishment."

On March 13, Agora translated an interview which Mullah Krekar gave to Dagbladet newspaper. He claimed that Islam will be victorious against the West:

"We have no fear of the Western mindset. It can never be victorious. In Iraq the two sides are facing each other. On the side of Islam are men who love death and are willing to become martyrs for their beliefs. On the other side are soldiers who fight for a 1000 dollars a day. The number of dead American soldiers are proof of defeats. In Afghanistan the same thing is happening. From 2001 to 2004 five suicide attacks occured. In 2005 it was 17. While the US and their allies are becoming smaller, Islam is expanding the front. And the reports from Guantanamo tell the same story. There they try to rip the faith our of the Moslems' hearts. They fail. In Denmark they printed those cartoons, but the result is that the backing for Islam increases. I and all Moslems are proof of this. You haven't managed to change us. We are the ones who will change you."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at April 7, 2006 9:18 PM

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