Controversial mullah Krekar, former leader of Islamist guerrilla group Ansar al-Islam, and now eligible for deportation after a Supreme Court ruling, has written an open letter in Aftenposten.
Krekar, born Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad in Iraq, has been assessed a threat to national security and can be deported for violation of immigration laws in Norway for repeated visits to his homeland. His expulsion remains on hold as Norwegian authorities do not yet consider him to be assured of a safe return.
In a lengthy article in newspaper Aftenposten on Friday, Krekar made an outspoken appeal, that included a wish for continued peace in Norway, arguments that his only sins here have been those of unreserved use of freedom of speech, and that his presence may be a guarantee against terrorism in the country.
Krekar asked that Norwegians spare a Christmas thought for the millions of Iraqi and Afghan children who do not have peace, and who have had their "oil stolen from them and sucked away by invasion companies".
Freedom of speech
Krekar also asked that he be spared a thought: "For no other refugee in this country has suffered such foul accusations as I. Just because I refuse to lie, refuse to give up my right to freedom of speech!"
Krekar went on to say that he has learned much about democracy, human rights, freedom of speech and equality of status from his time in Norway, and says that this is in harmony with Islam and the Koran as he understands them. He said that the controversy and threats of legal prosecution each time he utters unpopular opinions has given him a feeling of public double standards and confusion.
Krekar claimed that his constant clashes are due to his refusal to say one thing in private and another in public.
"Islam forbids me to lie! I am also not ashamed of my opinions. Have my opinions hurt anyone? Well, is not freedom of speech painful, and have not the unpopular opinions of the individual a place in the diversity of the home of freedom?" Krekar asks.
Terrorism
Krekar also discussed the inability of legal proceedings to prove he had ever committed a punishable offense, and wondered why he should commit one in the future. He also discussed terrorism, calling it a word robbed of power by the modern media because of a "biased definition" applied to those fighting the USA.
"One cannot compare the explosion in Madrid or London's suicide (bombers) with the resistance movement's struggle in Iraq and Afghanistan! Because terrorism is war aimed at civilians. Islam forbids the killing of civilians, destruction of religious temples, churches, the cutting of trees and the extermination of animals. Therefore I hereby declare any action on Norwegian soil - terrorism. But mercenaries in Iraq are not civilians," Krekar wrote.
Krekar said his view of Islam does not subscribe to the invasion of Europe, but for the liberation of Muslim nations. He said he had no ambitions in Norway, which he sees as a place of transit, until the time he can "return home for good, sit on a mountain in peaceful Kurdistan, and die as a good Muslim".
Threat?
Krekar argued that he may be insurance against a possible terrorist attack on Norway, rather than a threat. He claimed an "inner feeling" about the way Islamist groups think today despite "no longer having physical links" to them, and said that many immigrants expected an attack in Oslo after Madrid and London. "My presence and my case were possibly the reasons the terrorist action did not take place," Krekar wrote.
He finished with an appeal not to deliver him to Iraq, where torture and death would await. He advised against Norway signing oil contracts with northern Iraq, where this would be viewed as supporting the occupation when the USA eventually withdraws.
Repeating his stance that he will fight to liberate the world of Islam from the attack of the "American West", Krekar concluded that he cannot be silent, which would mean failure in his duty as "a free-thinking Islamist activist".
Source: Aftenposten (English)
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