Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09OSLO773
2009-12-15 09:37:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Oslo
Cable title:  

NORWAY ON MULLAH KREKAR EXTRADITION: IRAQ ON HOLD,

Tags:  PREL PTER PHUM IQ NO 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO6335
PP RUEHBC RUEHDBU RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHFL RUEHIHL RUEHKUK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR
DE RUEHNY #0773/01 3490937
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 150937Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY OSLO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8045
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA PRIORITY 1082
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 OSLO 000773 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/09/2019
TAGS: PREL PTER PHUM IQ NO
SUBJECT: NORWAY ON MULLAH KREKAR EXTRADITION: IRAQ ON HOLD,
AUSTRALIA HYPOTHETICALLY YES

REF: A. A) DANIELS/SILBERSTEIN (OSLO-EUR/NB) EMAILS DEC
7 AND 9

B. 2009 B) 09 OSLO 653

C. C) 08 OSLO 327 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: Political and Economic Counselor Cherrie S. Daniels for
reasons 1.4(b) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 OSLO 000773

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/09/2019
TAGS: PREL PTER PHUM IQ NO
SUBJECT: NORWAY ON MULLAH KREKAR EXTRADITION: IRAQ ON HOLD,
AUSTRALIA HYPOTHETICALLY YES

REF: A. A) DANIELS/SILBERSTEIN (OSLO-EUR/NB) EMAILS DEC
7 AND 9

B. 2009 B) 09 OSLO 653

C. C) 08 OSLO 327 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: Political and Economic Counselor Cherrie S. Daniels for
reasons 1.4(b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: In discussions on December 7, our
interlocutor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) legal
section stated that Norway is not/not actively pursuing
obtaining a guarantee of humane treatment for Ansar al-Islam
figure Mullah Krekar (aka Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad) from the
Government of Iraq. Absent this guarantee, the GON cannot
legally act on the standing court deportation order that
would send Krekar to Iraq, since Iraq practices capital
punishment. The MFA advised us that the Norwegians are
waiting for a decision (likely this spring) from the European
Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on the legal sufficiency of such
guarantees in general. The case before the ECHR is that of
Abu Qatada, Al Qaida's "Ambassador in Europe," currently in
the UK. The UK is attempting to deport him to Jordan. The
GOJ has provided the UK with a similar guarantee of humane
treatment, but Abu Qatada is apparently contesting the
validity of such a guarantee. In response to poloff's
question about media reports that an Australian journalist
union wanted Krekar extradited to Australia, our MFA contact
stated that he saw "no obstacles" to approving such a
request, in the hypothetical case that the GOA eventually
requested such extradition. The journalist union wants
Australia's attorney general to investigate Krekar for his
and Ansar al-Islam's role in the murder of an Australian
cameraman in Iraq in 2003. End summary.


2. (C) Poloff met with Martin Sorby, head of the
International Humanitarian and Criminal Law section of the
MFA, on December 7 to discuss the status of the longstanding
Norwegian court order for the deportation of Mullah Krekar to
Iraq. Sorby began by stating that Foreign Minister Stoere
and Iraqi Foreign Minister Zebari had discussed the issue in
June during Stoere's visit to Iraq, and that the two
countries were "following the matter closely." (Sorby did
not mention that a Norwegian newspaper had just reported that

Foreign Minister Stoere would again ask for guarantees when
FM Zebari visits Oslo in the near future.) When pressed,
however, Sorby admitted that Norway is not actively pursuing
obtaining a guarantee from the Iraqi authorities that Krekar,
if extradited, would be treated humanely and not be subject
to the death penalty. Absent such guarantee, Norway, under
its own law, cannot extradite Krekar to Iraq.


3. (C) Sorby said Norway was not actively seeking such a
guarantee because it was not yet clear that any such
guarantee or assurance would be legally sufficient. Sorby
said that Norway was waiting on a decision in the Abu Qatada
case, in which the UK has obtained from Jordan assurances
similar to the ones Norway was seeking from Iraq. Norway
views the disposition of the Qatada case to be so relevant to
its own position that there is no point in pursuing further
guarantees at this time, Sorby explained. The Abu Qatada case
at the ECHR is expected to be decided in the spring of 2010,
he added.


4. (C) Prefacing his comments with a caveat that anything he
said at this point was highly hypothetical, and pursuant to
prompting by poloff, Sorby said that there were "no obstacles
he could see" to extraditing Krekar to Australia. On
December 5, a Norwegian newspaper had reported that an
Australian journalists union was petitioning the Australian
attorney general to ask for extradition of Mullah Krekar,
based on the killing of an Australian cameraman, Paul Moran,
by a suicide bomber working for Ansar al-Islam in northern
Iraq in 2003.


5. (U) The following is the Embassy-translation of the text
of the article "They Want Krekar Extradited," which appeared
in Norwegian in the online edition of Aftenposten newspaper
on December 5, 2009:

Begin text:

"They Want Krekar Extradited"

The Australian journalist union wants Krekar extradited from
Norway and investigated in Australia for murder and war
crimes.

Norway rarely appears in Australian media, but these days the
Krekar case is making waves on the other side of the globe.
In the Australian media, Norway and Oslo are emerging as safe

OSLO 00000773 002 OF 002


havens for terrorists. In a long article in the newspaper
"The Australian" yesterday, frustrated Australian journalists
speak out for Mullah Kerkar to be extradited to Australia;
the headline reading "Terror Boss Escapes Retribution."

The backdrop for the journalists' demands dates back to 2003
when a suicide bombing killed the Australian cameraman Paul
Moran, when he was on assignment for the national television
company ABC in Kurdistan in northern Iraq.

The terrorist was under the wings of Ansar al-Islam, led by
the man who in Norway is known as Mullah Krekar.

Moran's journalist colleagues are exasperated at the
Australian government which has made no efforts to bring the
issue to a resolution, but instead let Krekar remain in
Norway "and mock the Australian government," as Mark Corcoran
puts it. Corcoran is a veteran reporter for ABC and in 2003
he was the first to receive the message of his colleague's
death.

Confronted Krekar

In 2007, Corcoran went to Oslo in order to confront Krekar
with what had happened. Krekar was bragging about
establishing the suicide squadron which killed Moran and was
saying that he was fully justified in doing so, even if Moran
was not a soldier. Krekar claimed at the time that he had
resigned as leader of Ansar al-Islam in 2002. However, he
possessed detailed information when Corcoran interviewed him
for ABC in 2007.

This week, the Australian journalist union -- Media,
Entertainment and Arts Alliance, MEAA -- wrote a letter to
the Attorney General and requested that the Australian
Federal Police, AFP, initiate an investigation.

The reason why this is so late in coming is that the
Australian government recently decided to open an
investigation into the killings of five Australian
journalists in East Timor in 1975. This prompted calls for
an investigation into Krekar.

If the AFP and Attorney General decide to fully investigate
the matter, demanding extradition, this will open up a new
development in the case.

"We are clearly talking about a war crime," says Chris Warren
of the journalist union, which also sits at the head of the
International Federation of Journalists.

Frustration

The reporter who was on assignment in Iraq together with
cameraman Paul Moran when he was murdered, Eric Campbell,
told The Australian that it is incredibly frustrating when a
man like Krekar is able to remain in Oslo and openly brag
about Ansar al-Islam, and take satisfaction in recounting the
details of Moran's death.

This is why the journalists are putting pressure behind their
demands. Krekar must one day be held responsible for his
actions, according to the request for an investigation.

The Supreme Court of Norway has labeled Krekar as a danger to
the country's security, but the Norwegian authorities have
not managed to deport him.

Whether or not Norway is able to extradite Krekar to
Australia is another matter. Australians have taken notice
of the fact that the Norwegian government refuses to
extradite people to countries that torture prisoners or that
apply capital punishment. But Australia doesn't apply the
death penalty.

End text.
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