Nordfordeid resident to court, charged with joining ISIL
A woman living in Nordfjordeid in Sogn & Fjordane is charged with participation in the Islamic terrorist group ISIL. The trial against the woman starts in Oslo District Court on Monday.
The 31-years-old woman is charged with working for and supporting ISIL (Islamic State In the Levant), and for attempting to travel to Syria to join the group. According to the charges, she participated in ISIL during the period from June 2016 to November 2017. Her trial is scheduled to be concluded on February 1st.
According to the indictment, the woman participated in both open and closed forums on the Internet, and she had contact with several persons associated with the extremist group in Syria, Britain and Sudan.
“She participated in the work of developing and spreading ISIL propaganda, among other ways by proof-reading of propaganda texts, sending propaganda messages and text with violent jihadist content to a person affiliated with ISIL,” writes Norwegian State Prosecutor Marit Formo in the indictment. She is, furthermore, charged with establishing fictitious user accounts on various social media.
Intercepted
In October 2017, the woman attempted to travel to Syria in order to join ISIL. The journey started in Nordfjordeid. She brought along contact details of several ISIL-affiliated persons. She was arrested in Austria, attempting to travel from Vienna to Istanbul. She applied for asylum in Austria and was placed in an asylum reception there. The following month she left Austria and travelled to Italy, where she was arrested by the Italian authorities and subsequently imprisoned. She was finally repatriated to Norway on December 5th of the same year.
In the charge, it is stated that the woman communicated contact between a person in the UK and a so-called facilitation network for ISIL in Syria in connection with this person planning to travel to the country to join the extremist group. This happened in February 2017. The man was intercepted and arrested at Stanstead Airport North of London as he attempted to embark a plane there.
The charge also includes financial support to ISIL by transferring money to the man which was arrested in the UK and another man who was a fighter for ISIL in Syria. The latter intended to marry the woman on arrival. In addition, she allegedly has transferred money to an ISIL participant who stayed in Sudan at the time.
IS, Daish and ISIS are other often-used acronyms for the extremist terrorist group Islamic State (In the Levant).
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today