The alleged perpetrator of the attack, near a gay bar, Saturday June 24, was known to the internal intelligence services for its links with the Islamist movement.
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After the shock, the time is for meditation and questions in Norway. Sunday, June 26 in the morning, a ceremony took place at the Cathedral of Oslo, to pay tribute to the victims of the shooting which left two dead and 21 injured, near London Pub, the oldest gay bar in the country, in the Night from Friday to Saturday. The LGBTQ+pride march, scheduled the next day, had to be canceled. “The fight is not over,” said Labor Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, taking up the words chanted by thousands of people, spontaneously descended into the streets of the Norwegian capital, Saturday afternoon, an arc- flag En-ciel in hand.
The alleged author of the shooting has been identified as Zaniar Matapour, 42, a Norwegian of Iranian origin, with a heavy legal past, known to intelligence for his links with the Islamist movement in Norway. Neutralized by passers -by and the police, just a few minutes after shooting automatic weapons on several coffee terraces, around 1:10 am, in the center of Oslo, he is accused of murder, attempted murder and terrorist act.
But for the moment, the investigators could not question him. He refuses to be recorded or filmed: “He says he is afraid that the police will handle what he said, either by cutting or changing his statements,” said his lawyer, John Christian Elden. While waiting to question it, the main track of investigators is that of a hateful crime against the LGBT community, even if they do not exclude an Islamist attack or the gesture of an unbalanced: “This can also be a combination “, noted Borge Enoksen, one of the Oslo police officials. 2>” A long history of violence ”
Bean fight, possession of drugs, attempted murder … Zaniar Matapour has, behind him, “a long history of violence and threats”, revealed Roger Berg, the head of the Norwegian internal intelligence services (PST), During a press briefing on Saturday. His first conviction dates back to 1999. To this heavy criminal record, it is necessary to add “difficulties linked to mental health”, said Mr. Berg, who confirmed that the PST had had it on its radars since 2015, due to its links with the Islamist movement in Norway.
Zaniar Matapour was heard in May by the police, after being identified at the scene of a demonstration of the Islamophobic organization Stop Islamization of Norway. According to the VG newspaper, he had been arrested while he was in a car with Arfan Bhatti, recruiter of the Islamic State organization in Norway. On June 14, the latter had posted on Facebook the photo of a fireplace flag on fire, encouraging to kill homosexuals.
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