CAIRO (dpa): Prosecutors on Tuesday called for a Kurdish Islamic cleric to receive a five-year sentence for making threats against the leader of Norway's opposition Conservatives. The trial, which opened in Oslo on February 15, has centered on remarks made by Mullah Krekar during a news conference in June 2010. He said that Erna Solberg, leader of the Conservative Party, would “pay a price” if he was deported from Norway. Prosecutors Marit Bakkevig and Geir Evanger said in closing statements Tuesday that Krekar, whose real name is Faraj Ahmad Najmuddin, had made several threatening statements aimed at inciting fear. They were aimed at preventing the authorities from “carrying out his deportation,” Evanger said. Solberg, leader of the opposition Conservatives, handled refugee issues during 2001 to 2005 under a previous government and has testified during the trial. Other charges included remarks Krekar made in a television interview 2009 urging people to fight US soldiers in Iraq and threatening three Kurds. Two of the trio testified that they had been threatened online. Krekar's defense lawyer Brynjar Meling told news agency NTB he was surprised at the call for a five-year jail term, noting that similar cases had resulted in sentences of 21 to 45 days. Krekar has been a controversial figure for several years. He was granted asylum in Norway in 1991, but ordered to leave the country in February 2003 for violating the terms of his refugee status and his alleged links to the Islamist organization Ansar al-Islam. The deportation has never been carried out, partly over concerns that he risked the death penalty in Iraq. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/Nxu6y Tags: Jail, Krekar, Norway Section: Europe, Latest News, Religion
