The 2010 Norway terror plot was a Norway-based plan to bomb the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and to kill the cartoonist Kurt Westergaard. Two men with links to Al-Qaeda were convicted for the plot, while a third person was acquitted for terror charges.
Contents
Background
After investigations by Norwegian intelligence in cooperation with US and British intelligence, three men with residence in Norway were arrested on 8 July 2010 in what was described as part of the largest terrorist network uncovered since the September 11 attacks. The men were thought to be part of an Al-Qaeda cell in Norway with links to the network responsible for the 2009 New York City Subway and United Kingdom plot, and were charged with conspiracy to commit one or more acts of terrorism in Norway. The plots were thought to have been ordered by Saleh al-Somali, and to have had links to Adnan Gulshair el Shukrijumah. At least two of the suspects had regularly attended the Muslim Cultural Center in Sarpsborg, a radical mosque known for its militant views.
Suspects
Investigation and trial
According to the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST), the men were thought to have planned to make bombs based on hydrogen peroxide. It was revealed that Jakobsen had contacted PST months prior to the arrest, and that he had functioned as their informant. Due to being under extensive surveillance, Norwegian police were able to replace the dangerous chemicals thought to be acquired by the cell with harmless ones.
In September, Bujak confessed to having planned to bomb the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and to shoot the cartoonist Kurt Westergaard together with Davud. All three men had changed their names in the aftermath of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. Some days later, the suspected main perpetrator Mikael Davud claimed that he had planned to bomb the Chinese embassy in Oslo as part of a personal vendetta unknowingly to the other suspects. A solo plot would notably have avoided the stricter sentencing under Norway's anti-terror laws which required a person to have entered into a conspiracy with at least one other person.
On 30 January 2012 the Oslo District Court convicted Davud and Bujak for conspiracy to commit terror against Jyllands-Posten in Copenhagen or Århus, while dismissing Davud's claims of plans to bomb the Chinese embassy. Davud was sentenced to seven years in prison, Bajuk to three and a half years, while Jakobsen was acquitted of the terror charges. All three were convicted for having produced explosives.
The verdicts were upheld following appeals to the Borgarting Court of Appeal and finally the Supreme Court of Norway, with Davud's sentence being raised to eight years.