Crown Prince Haakon is being called upon to act in the state’s efforts to confine Islamic cleric Mullah Krekar until he can be deported. Prosectors want to present “classified evidence” against Krekar in court but can only do so if the monarch approves the appointment, at a session of the Council of State, of a special attorney to handle the evidence.
The evidence reportedly is based on classified information that prosecutors believe can prove that Krekar, who was recently released from prison after being convicting of making threats, remains a threat to national security. They want to continue to confine him at an asylum center in a village in Trøndelag, far from his home in Oslo.
Krekar has objected to being forced to move to the village of Kyrksæterøra, but police believe the threat he poses “will be reduced if he is moved out of his milieu” in the Oslo area, said Vegard Rødas of the Oslo Police District.
News bureau NTB and newspaper Aftenposten reported Wednesday that the issue is due to come up at the next Council of State meeting on Friday. The crown prince will sitting in as Crown Prince Regent at the meeting in the absence of his father, King Harald, who has been in Australia this week on a state visit.
The acting monarch will be asked to appoint a special attorney who’s cleared to handle the sensitive, classified information involved in the new evidence. Krekar’s longtime defense attorney Brynjar Meling has objected, not least because neither he nor Krekar will have access to the classified evidence. Meling complained on the grounds that “we can’t know what we must defend ourselves against.”
A lower court ruled in favour of moving Krekar to Kyrksæterøra and Krekar’s appeal may be heard next week. Regardless of the outcome, the appeals ruling is bound to be appealed itself, to the Supreme Court. A final decision on whether Krekar, who remains free in Oslo in the meantime, can be moved is expected before the Easter holidays.
newsinenglish.no/Nina Berglund
