The Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oslo
Press Division – Editor: Mette S. Øwre

Norway Daily No. 175/02

Date: 16 September 2002

Krekar cannot be prevented from entering Norway (Aftenposten/Saturday)

It is doubtful whether Mullah Krekar, who was detained in Amsterdam yesterday, will be arrested and remanded in custody if he is sent to Norway. Nor can the Norwegian authorities refuse to allow him entry into the country before yesterday’s deportation order has come into force. He has 14 days in which to appeal. The National Police Security Service (PST) suspect Mullah Krekar of operating a military organization, but they are not thought to have any specific proof of this.

Tug-of-war over Krekar could take months (Aftenposten)

If the Dutch judge decides that Mullah Krekar should be handed over to Jordan, he could remain in jail in the Netherlands for months while the legal tug-of-war over his fate is played out. However, if the judge decides that the Jordanian request for extradition is unfounded, Mullah Krekar will be released within a few days, and will then be free to travel to Norway if he so wishes.

Krekar was in Oslo in August (Dagbladet)

Mullah Krekar was in Norway on 2 August and renewed his Norwegian travel documents. Mullah Krekar’s wife knew nothing about this until yesterday. She has not seen him for over a year, she said. Mullah Krekar’s Norwegian lawyers said that Mullah Krekar succeeded in renewing his travel documents. They had to be renewed before the end of August, which can only be done in person.

USA will ask Norway for help in war against Saddam (Dagsavisen/Saturday)

"If there is military action against Iraq we will ask Norway to contribute in more or less the same way as in Afghanistan. In other words a combination of intelligence operations, restoration of law and order as well as military personnel and equipment," said US Ambassador to Norway, John Doyle Ong. The Ambassador believes Norway will provide the assistance that the USA asks for, and points to the fact that both Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik and Foreign Minister Jan Petersen have already given a large measure of support to President Bush.

Socialist Left Party looking for seat in cabinet (Dagsavisen/Sunday)

If the Socialist Left Party retains its current level of support, it will not be content to play a supporting role to a future Labour government, said party chairman Kristin Halvorsen. "I have noted a tendency both in the Labour Party and among our own supporters for people to feel that the Labour Party should become more like the Socialist Left Party and that we should become more like Labour in order for us to be able to work together. That is not the case. If we are to succeed in creating a majority out of the Labour Party, Socialist Left Party and Centre Party, each party must do what is necessary to secure its own political foundation. We must have the self-confidence to keep our focus on our own policies," said Ms Halvorsen when she addressed her party’s national executive committee in Oslo yesterday.

Norwegian ozone protection efforts dazzling (Verdens Gang)

Norway is one of the best countries in the world when it comes to ozone protection. Our consumption of "ozone killers" has been slashed by 98 per cent since 1986. Imports of ozone depleting substances were cut by 15 per cent from 2000 to 2001, according to figures published by the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority (SFT). This means that Norway is 31 per cent below the EU’s target for reducing ozone depleting substances.

Cars only means of transport for half of all Norwegians (Dagsavisen/Sunday)

A whopping 53 per cent of the Norwegian population uses practically no other means of transport than their cars. These motorists make a maximum of three journeys a month by other means of transport. This documents the complete failure of public transport policy," says the Norwegian Society for the Conservation of Nature. 11,000 people nationwide participated in the survey carried out by the Institute of Transport Economics.

Stoltenberg: Labour will not back Conservatives’ budget (Aftenposten)

"We will not vote in favour of a budget which bears all the hallmarks of the Conservative Party and which we strongly disagree with," warns Labour’s Jens Stoltenberg. Although Mr Stoltenberg has not entirely shut the door on the Government’s budget proposal, he is more concerned to pin responsibility on the governing coalition parties and the Progress Party. "The Progress Party and the governing coalition must take responsibility for the choices they made last year. After much toing and froing the Progress Party chose to put the Bondevik government in office, and the Bondevik government accepted the Progress Party’s support. They did so on the basis of the political platform contained in the coalition parties’ joint Sem Declaration," said Mr Stoltenberg.

Worth Noting

• The Progress Party’s Per Sandberg, who is vice chairman of the Storting’s Local Government Committee, would not object to Mullah Krekar being handed over to a country which practices the death penalty. "As a Norwegian politician I cannot allow myself to be affected by the fact that Mullah Krekar could be executed after being put on trial in the USA," he said.
  (Verdens Gang)
• Both the USA and Jordan want to get their hands on suspected terrorist Mullah Krekar. "Krekar is coming home to Norway," promises his lawyer, Arvid Sjødin.
  (Verdens Gang/Sunday)
• Oaths of allegiance, language tuition and stricter marriage rules will force Muslims to become integrated in Norwegian society. These demands have been made by Svenn Kristiansen, leader of the Progress Party in Oslo and deputy mayor.
  (Dagsavisen)
• Norwegian local authorities could save NOK 15 billion a year by cooperating with each other and centralizing purchasing routines. The public sector purchases goods and services to the tune of NOK 213 billion each year.
  (Dagsavisen/Saturday)
• Norway currently has 19 national parks, but this number will be doubled by 2010, promises Environment Minister Børge Brende. At that point 14 per cent of Norway’s countryside will be protected.
  (Aftenposten/Saturday)
• The oil industry has been given a clear message. It must achieve zero emissions by 2005. "The country’s entire chemicals policy will be reviewed in the ‘State of the Nation’ report, which will include a number of tough targets," said Environment Minister Børge Brende.
  (Aftenposten/Saturday)
• While the Oslo Stock Exchange’s main index continues to plummet, 30 shares have risen by more than 10 per cent in the past year.
  (Dagens Næringsliv)
• One in four new churches consecrated in this country are located in the Stavanger diocese. 14 new church buildings have been constructed in the area since 1990. Oil revenues and enterprising parishioners explain the construction boom.
  (Vårt Land)
• Many people extend the summer season by using a solarium, and girls aged 15-18 are among the most frequent purchasers of artificial UV-radiation. They should not be. The authorities are now proposing a ban on solarium use for anyone under 18.
  (Aftenposten)
• Skålvikfjorden in Nordmøre County is too small for Keiko, the killer whale. He is now going to be moved, probably to Vestfjorden in Nordland.
  (Dagsavisen)

Today’s comment from Aftenposten

While Mullah Krekar sits in detention in an escape-proof prison in the Netherlands, a tug-of-war is going on both in front of and behind the scenes to determine his fate. We have only an inkling of what is going on behind the scenes, but from the information that has leaked out we know that several countries, including the USA, are interested in extraditing Krekar because they suspect him of having links with the al-Qaida terrorist network. We do not know if that is the real reason why Jordan wants to get hold of him, and not his alleged drug trafficking connections. But we cannot rule out the possibility of the USA putting pressure on Jordan, which would not have the same qualms as Norway about handing Krekar on to the USA should the Netherlands decide to uphold Jordan’s application for extradition. The problem is that it is not so easy to say what is legally correct. Norway has obligations with regard to international conventions which state that individuals may not be handed over to countries in which they risk being tortured. Nor can Norway send people to countries which practice capital punishment, which several US states do. But international law offers no simple guidelines in such cases. International law consists of custom and practice as well as conventions and international agreements. It is therefore open to interpretation and is constantly changing. We believe the best, if not the easiest, way out of this dilemma is for the Government to ask the Netherlands to hand Krekar over to Norway and then do what the Norwegian Helsinki Committee suggests – investigate him and, if necessary, put him on trial in Norway.