OSLO // Two men who plotted to attack a Danish newspaper that caricatured the Prophet Mohammed were found guilty yesterday of terror charges in Norway, the first convictions under the country's antiterror laws.
The Oslo district court sentenced the ringleader, Mikael Davud, to seven years in prison and his co-defendant, Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak, to three and a half years.
Judge Oddmund Svarteberg said the court found that Davud "planned the attack together with Al Qaeda".
A third defendant, David Jakobsen, was cleared of terror charges but convicted of helping the others acquire explosives. Jakobsen, who assisted police in the investigation, was sentenced to four months.
Investigators say the plot was linked to the same Al Qaeda planners behind thwarted attacks against the New York subway system and a British shopping mall in 2009.
The case was Norway's most high-profile terror investigation until last July, when a right-wing extremist killed 77 people in a bomb and shooting massacre.
The three men, who were arrested in July 2010, made some admissions but pleaded innocent to terrorism conspiracy charges and rejected any links to Al Qaeda.
During the trial Davud denied he was taking orders from Al Qaeda, saying he was planning a solo raid against the Chinese Embassy in Oslo. He said he wanted revenge for Beijing's oppression of Uighurs, a Muslim minority in western China.
Davud, a Norwegian citizen, also said his co-defendants helped him acquire bomb-making ingredients but did not know he was planning an attack.
Prosecutors said the Norwegian cell first wanted to attack the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, whose 12 cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed sparked furious protests in Muslim countries in 2006, and then changed plans to seek to murder one of the cartoonists instead.
Bujak, an Iraqi Kurd, said the paper and the cartoonist were indeed the targets, but described the plans as "just talk".
Prosecutors had to prove the defendants worked together in a conspiracy, because a single individual plotting an attack is not covered under Norway's antiterror laws.
During the trial, prosecutors presented testimony obtained in the US in April from three American Al Qaeda recruits turned government witnesses.
Jakobsen, an Uzbek national who changed his name after moving to Norway, provided some of the chemicals for the bomb, but claims he did not know they were meant for explosives. Jakobsen contacted police and served as an informant, but still faced charges for his involvement before that.
The men had been under surveillance for more than a year when authorities moved to arrest them in July 2010.
Norwegian investigators, who worked with their US counterparts, said the defendants were building a bomb in a basement laboratory in Oslo.
The bio
Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.
Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
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Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
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Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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Know your camel milk:
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AT4 Ultimate, as tested
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