Two men convicted of knife attack on Imam in Oslo

Oslo.Imam Nehmat Ali Shah.Photo : Gorm Kallestad / NTB scanpix

Two men in Borgarting Court of Appeal have been sentenced to three years in prison for a knife attack on Imam, Nehmat Ali Shah, outside a mosque in Grønland in Oslo in the summer of 2014.

The appeal by the two men (43 and 32) has been postponed twice and that is some of the reason why the verdict came four and a half years after the knife attack in June 2014 NRK reported. Both convicted persons were in prison for other matters when the appeal was dealt with in the Court of Appeal.

Imam Nehmat Ali Shah was assaulted by a masked man and stabbed in several places on his body outside his home in Grønland at 23.00 on June 14, 2014. In the judgment, it was stated that the Imam could have died of the injuries if he had not arrived quickly for treatment at Ullevål hospital.

Some motives for the action are not known. According to the judgment, the 43 year-old had recruited the 32 year-old to carry out the attack. Both of the men acknowledged that they were in the area that night, but have always denied punishment. As in the District Court, the defendants were not believed, but the Court of Appeal reduced the punishment for the two from four to three years because of the lengthy treatment the case has received.

The judgment in the Court of Appeal was passed on the 23rd of January.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today