All three suspects come from Somalia and
have been linked to the radical group
Al Shabab, which in turn
has been linked to terrorist activity. Prosecutors claim the suspects have
sent money back to Somalia to finance "holy war" against the government that
has run the country since Ethiopian forces invaded in 2006.All three deny
any terrorist activity and others active in Norway's Somalian community scoff
at the charges. They claim it's no crime to be politically active or oppose
the current regime in Somalia or anywhere else.
"If support for the fight against Ethiopia is terror, then we're all
terrorists," one local Somalian told newspaper VG on Friday. Others likened
the struggle against unpopular regimes at home to the resistance effort
against German occupation forces in Norway during World War II.
The three suspects include a 39-year-old man who came to Norway from
Somalia's war-torn capital of Mogadishu. He's married, has children, is a
practicing Muslim and speaks Norwegian. He has been working in an Internet
cafe that was raided by police on Thursday, and was at work when he was
arrested.
The other two suspects are a 47-year-old Somalian who has lived in Norway
since 1999 but has remained politically active against the sitting government
in Somalia, and a 40-year-old man who has been in Norway for a the past few
years and operates a "hawala" system of sending payments and transferring
money overseas. Such systems are illegal, but often are used even by
international organizations that need to get aid funds to underdeveloped
countries.
None of the suspects has been identified by name, in accordance with
Norwegian press practice. They face custody hearings over the weekend.
