Norwegian court finds Islamist guilty of orchestrating deadly 2022 Pride attack

OSLO, Jan 16 (Reuters) – A Norwegian court on Friday found an Islamist man guilty of orchestrating a deadly shooting at a gay bar during Oslo’s 2022 Pride celebrations, sentencing him to the country’s maximum term of 30 years in prison.

Arfan Bhatti, a 48-year-old Norwegian citizen born in Oslo, stood trial on charges of complicity in aggravated terrorism for planning the attack even though he was in Pakistan at the time of the shooting.

Two people died and eight others were wounded by bullets when a lone gunman, identified as Iranian-born Norwegian Zaniar Matapour, opened fire on the London Pub, a hub of Oslo’s LGBTQ+ scene, and a next-door bar in the centre of Norway’s capital.

Dozens more suffered lesser injuries in the chaos that followed.

In July 2024, Matapour was convicted of murder and aggravated terrorism for carrying out the attack, and was also sentenced to 30 years in prison.

WILL APPEAL AGAINST THE VERDICT

Bhatti was extradited to Norway in 2024 and has remained in custody.

“Bhatti has appealed the judgment forthwith and maintains that he has had no involvement whatsoever with the shooting,” his lawyers John Christian Elden and Bernt Heiberg said in a statement to Reuters.

An independent inquiry into the authorities’ response concluded in 2023 that police could have prevented the attack had they acted on a tip-off from a foreign intelligence agency.

Two forensic psychiatric experts concluded in court that Bhatti has severe dissocial personality disorder and meets the criteria for psychopathy, though they determined he still remains criminally responsible for his actions.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik in Oslo and Soren Jeppesen in Copenhagen; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Gareth Jones)