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ISLAM

Extremist arrested over Islamist threat video

Police have arrested 26-year-old Islamic extremist Mohyeldeen Mohammad in connection with a hate-filled video posted to YouTube in mid-January that called for Allah to destroy members of the Norwegian government and royal family.

Extremist arrested over Islamist threat video
Photo: Trond Reidar Teigen/Scanpix (File)

Norway’s domestic intelligence service, PST, announced on Twitter on Wednesday that it had made its second arrest in the case.

Mohammad’s lawyer, John Christian Elden, confirmed that his client had been apprehended and charged with threatening state officials.  

“He denies committing an offence and says it’s paradoxical that the security police have arrested him for his part in a demonstration that was protected by Oslo police,” Elden told news agency NTB.

The video was posted to a Facebook page calling for Norwegian troops to leave Afghanistan. Its appearance heightened tensions surrounding an anti-war demonstration due to be held outside the Oslo parliament just days later.

Amid huge media interest, the demonstration eventually passed off without major incident.

Last week, Mohammad drew the ire of the authorities with a message posted on the Facebook wall of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, newspaper VG reports. The message read:

“To: Jens KAFIR Stoltenberg Enemy of Allah, mass murderer and terrorist! Pull the soldiers out of Afghanistan! Allah will punish you for your misdeeds, may you burn in Hell for all eternity!”

Mohyeldeen Mohammad has admitted to publishing the message on Stoltenberg’s wall.

Elden said he had no comment to make on his client’s Facebook posting.

“He hasn’t been charged over that, and I stay well away from his politics,” said the lawyer.

Mohammad previously caused outrage in 2010 with comments made after the publication in Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet of a caricature of the Muslim prophet Muhammad.

“Maybe we’ll have a 9/11 or 7/7 on Norwegian soil. This is not a threat, but a warning,” he said.

A 21-year-old old man from Skien, south-eastern Norway, remains in custody after his earlier arrest in connection with the contentious video.

The man, a Norwegian citizen with a Central American family background, was arrested at his home in the town on January 20th by officers from the Telemark police service and the PTS.

He faces charges of threatening state officials and incitement to terrorism.

In the video, images of Crown Prince Haakon, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre are accompanied by a song in Arabic that contains the words: “Oh Allah, destroy them, and let it be painful”.

The clip, which is just over four minutes long, also features pictures of Norwegian soldiers and injured children. It ends with the sound of an explosion and a picture of a Norwegian vehicle in flames.

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TERRORISM

Italian police arrest Algerian wanted for alleged IS ties

Police in Milan said on Thursday they had arrested a 37-year-old Algerian man in the subway, later discovering he was wanted for alleged ties to Islamic State.

Italian police arrest Algerian wanted for alleged IS ties

When stopped by police officers for a routine check, the man became “particularly aggressive”, said police in Milan, who added the arrest took place “in recent days”.

He was “repeatedly shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ while attempting to grab from his backpack an object that turned out to be a knife with a blade more than 12cm (nearly five inches) long,” they said in a statement.

The man was later found to be wanted by authorities in Algeria, suspected since 2015 of belonging to “Islamic State militias and employed in the Syrian-Iraqi theatre of war,” police said.

Police said the suspect was unknown to Italian authorities.

The man is currently in Milan’s San Vittore prison and awaiting extradition, they added.

Jihadist group IS proclaimed a “caliphate” in 2014 across swathes of Syria and Iraq, launching a reign of terror that continues with hit-and-run attacks and ambushes.

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