Norway is still planning to expel Mullah Krekar, the founder of the radical Muslim group Ansar al-Islam, to Iraq, the government said Tuesday, a day after refusing to extradite him to Jordan.
| Good we can deport him from Iraq to Jordan... |
Norway's justice ministry said Monday it had rejected Amman's request because there was insufficient evidence to prove allegations that Krekar smuggled heroin to fund terrorist activities. But Erna Solberg, the minister of local government and regional development who is also in charge of immigration issues, told Norwegian television TV2 on Tuesday that "the questions raised in this case (the extradition request) have never been part of the expulsion dossier."
| "It's a paperwork thing. Came back in triplicate, and we need quadruplicate. And there was no stamp..." |
Solberg stressed that Jordan's extradition request was handled by the justice ministry and had nothing to do with her own ministry's decision in February to expel Krekar on the grounds that he represented "a threat to national security". In an interview with AFP last week, Solberg said Krekar would be expelled to Iraq "as soon as conditions in that country permit". However, Krekar's lawyer said that following the rejection of Jordan's extradition request, and the fact that Norwegian police have previously dropped an investigation into allegations of terrorism, there "was no longer any basis for expulsion".
| The potato was too hot for the Norwegian cops? I thought they were better than that. Or was it the pols? I know they're not... |
US officials contend Ansar al-Islam has loose links to al-Qaeda.
| I have loose links to Mom, too... |
The group's stronghold in northern Iraq — a cluster of some 16 villages — was devastated by US air strikes in early April during the US invasion of Iraq. But US commanders have said Ansar al-Islam has made a strong comeback, infiltrating Iraq from Iran and setting up operations in the Baghdad area.
| We're gonna have to talk to the Black Hats about that... |
The group is suspected of being behind in a series of unsolved car bombings and suicide attacks in the Iraqi capital that have targeted the Jordanian embassy, the United Nations headquarters, a hotel used by Iraqi and US security forces and the Turkish mission. In an interview with AFP a month ago, Krekar said that it was very doubtful whether al-Qaeda had the means to carry out such attacks.
| "In fact, it's doubtful they even exist. Just a figment of the infidel imagination, y'know?" |
Krekar, who has enjoyed refugee status in Norway since 1991, says he has not led Ansar al-Islam since May 2002.
| Since about the time he was jugged. And Zarqawi took over effective control. |
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