Iraqi refugee threatens Norway

Nina Berglund:

Norway's most controversial refugee has lodged a threat against the country that has hosted him and his family for the past 14 years. Mullah Krekar calls his possible deportation "an offense" that shouldn't go unpunished.

Oslo newspaper Aftenposten reported Tuesday that Krekar, in an interview with Arab TV station Al-Jazeera, vowed he will never go along with a deportation order issued by Norwegian authorities. Cabinet Minister Erna Solberg initially ordered him sent out of the country in February 2003, calling Krekar a threat to national security.

Krekar fled Iraq in the early 1990s and landed in Norway in 1991. He later, however, started travelling back to northern Iraq, where he played a key role in building up the guerrilla group known as Ansar al-Islam.

Now Krekar claims he faces torture and a death sentence if the Norwegian authorities send him back to Iraq. He told Al-Jazeera, therefore, that "everyone must know" that a deportation to Iraq "is an offense that shouldn't be made without punishment."

Krekar wasn't specific, however, about what kind of punishment he thinks Norway should receive if a court upholds Solberg's deportation order.

"I have faith in Allah," Krekar told Al-Jazeera in the text of the interview dated August 31. "I defend my rights in their court just like Western people defend their rights. I am patient like they are patient. But if my patience runs out, I will react like Orientals do."

Asked how "Orientals" react, Krekar said: "I don't want to comment on that."

In the interview, Krekar also seemed to attack Solberg personally. "How can a politician play with my life to satisfy her adolescent political visions," he asked.

Krekar also spoke positively about suspected terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and developments in the Muslim world. "The whole world must see that Jihad... is increasing in its scope with Allah's pardon," he said. "This trend represents solidarity in the Muslim community."

He added that he thinks "Jihadists" won't ease up "until they see Islam's house equipped with Saladins sable, Mohammed's conquering turban and Osama bin Laden's vision." He thus combined three important symbols used by Islamic extremists.

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