– Four years is strict – VG

– Four years is a very strict statement, there is no doubt about that. But we have seen cases of foreign warriors, and one would have risen higher if a warrior had been in Syria for six years, state prosecutor Geir Evanger tells VG.

– You have been granted a discount on the fine, because you believe that the defendant was detained in Syria against her will and because she has cooperated. How much deduction have you given?

– It is not possible to quantify, but we have put some emphasis on it, during the last part of the stay, that he tried to leave before the long period began.

– Will this case set a precedent for the investigation against the other Norwegian women of the Islamic State, if they came to Norway?

– It is the first of its kind, so it will obviously mark the agenda for this type of case, if there is a conviction, and also the sentence will be important.

Custody is deducted

It was her co-actor, police lawyer Line Nyvoll Nygaard of the Police Security Service (PST), who filed a four-year prison lawsuit against the Islamic State woman.

Nygaard believes that the defendant’s prison sentence should be 3.5 years for joining the Islamic State, which is increased to four years through marriage to foreign warrior Bastian Vasquez, and to five years due to the length of the criminal relationship. .

But she believes that at the same time a penalty discount should be given. It should be added here that the accused has cooperated with the police. You have also provided information about others and thus provided valuable information to PST.

The accusation thus lands in an indictment of four years in prison. Then a deduction of 402 days of custody will be given.

The women’s advocate, Nils Christian Nordhus, says he will not comment on the claim.

Watch the video of the test:

– Special case

– This is a special case, it is the first time someone has been accused of being a wife and mother. But legally it is quite simple, begins the prosecutor Geir Evanger, in the trial against the Norwegian woman of the Islamic State.

– The main question for the court to consider is whether being a wife and mother in ISIL counts as participation in a terrorist organization, she continues.

The prosecutor emphasizes that the defendant made a voluntary decision when she went to Syria in 2013, that she knew there was a civil war in the country, that the man she was going to marry was a warrior from a terrorist organization and had participated in ” cruel acts “.

The prosecutor does not doubt that the defendant was refused by her husband to leave Syria and was subjected to violence, but emphasizes that the decisive factor is the choice she made when she went to Syria.

Deprived of any rights

However, it emphasizes that it is believed that the accused was not free to leave Syria:

– In a way, she was completely deprived of her rights, and was completely dependent and subject to the warlord Bastián Vásquez.

Prosecutors believe that the defendant settled further in the Islamic State after marrying her second husband, after Vasquez passed away on April 9, 2015. At the end of his stay in Syria, when the defendant was married to a third man, this changed again. Until she wanted to leave Syria.

– It was obvious that the defendants wanted out at the time, and it is understandable: the Islamic State was on the verge of being completely crushed and they were constantly on the run, says Evanger.

Wife and mother means participant

Evanger refers to the concept of participant in the terrorism clause and affirms that anyone who actively contributes to the maintenance of the organization participates.

– It must be possible to be convicted of participation if one is a taxpayer, says Evanger, and refers to the evaluations of the Supreme Court.

Evanger also refers to a March 2019 verdict, in which a woman was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison for an attempt to travel to Syria and join the Islamic State.

– Being a woman and a mother was an important way of participating in IS, says Evanger.

Six year sentence

The sentence is six years, but the prosecution has indicated that there are several mitigating reasons, such as that the defendant was detained in Syria by force and that she can obtain a sentence discount due to the cooperation with the PST.

– We believe this is an ongoing criminal offense, says police attorney Line Nyvoll Nygaard of the Police Security Service (PST), who is a co-actor.

Nygaard refers to previous sentences against male ISIS members with Norwegian citizenship. In such a 2016 verdict, two ISIS fighters received four years and three months in prison.

For them, it was a relief that they went to Syria before the June 2013 terrorism clause went into effect. This resulted in a three-month reduction in sentence.

The accused woman also went to Syria about six months before the terrorism clause was introduced.

Nygaard also discusses what emphasis the court should place on the fact that a defendant has spelled out his own case. In previous cases, this has resulted in a sentence reduction of around 20 per cent of the maximum sentence.

– Long criminal period

The court should take as its starting point that it is a stake in ISIL, Nygaard says. He believes that the fact that the defendants left at a time when ISIL was not formed should not be emphasized, as Jahbat al-Nusra was also a terrorist organization. Emphasis should be placed on the fact that the accused left before the terrorist involvement was illegal.

Nygaard believes it must weigh heavily that the defendant was in Syria for so long, more than any other Norwegian person affiliated with the Islamic State. That the defendant voluntarily chose to do hijra, that is, the exit to Syria, must be taken into account.

Nygaard also believes that it must be assumed that the defendant tried to leave Syria after Vásquez’s death, but that she finally accepted the situation when she was unsuccessful.

Nygaard believes that participation as a wife and mother should be emphasized in a different way than participation as a warrior, but that the participation of women as housewives was important to IS and therefore should be counted as participation.

– She made it possible for the men she was married to actively participate in the terrorist organization, says Nygaard.

– There is no basis for making too great a difference between male and female participation in ISIL, at least when compared to the cases that apply to men who did not actively participate in battles for ISIS.

Nygaard believes the defendant’s prison sentence should be 3.5 years for joining the Islamic State, increased to four years through marriage to Vasquez and five years due to the length of the criminal relationship.

But she believes that at the same time a penalty discount should be given. It should be added here that the accused has cooperated with the police. You have also provided information about others and thus provided valuable information to PST.

– Abused by Vasquez

In the trial, the Norwegian-Pakistani woman (30) is accused of terrorist participation through the marriage with the jihadist Bastian Vasquez and two other IS fighters, in the years 2013-2019.

Her defenders believe that the woman tried for a long time to break with the Islamic State, but did not leave Syria. The defendant has explained that she was radicalized and very much in love with Vasquez when she went to Syria in February 2013.

But after entering Syria, the woman explained that Vasquez began to abuse her physically, mentally and sexuallyand refused to leave the IS site.

The woman was brought home from Syria with her two children in January last year. The government decided to bring the family home from Syria due to the son’s alleged serious illness. The repatriation led the Progress Party to leave the government.

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