– It is disputed that it is a criminal offense to receive health care, including in connection with the birth of her two children, says lawyer Geir Lippestad in the Oslo District Court.
He defends the older of the two sisters who are accused of participating in a terrorist organisation. In autumn 2013, they both traveled from their home in Bærum to Syria, where they joined IS, married foreign fighters and where the youngest took an oath of allegiance to the extreme Islamist group, according to the indictment.
When the trial started in the Oslo district court, the two pleaded not guilty after the indictment. In court, they are dressed in hijab and abaya, which is a long, loose dress.
Mentions language training in the indictment
Lippestad is clear that his client acknowledges part of what is in the indictment, but that she disagrees that these things are punishable.
In the indictment, state attorney Marit Formo, who is the prosecutor in the case, writes that the sisters received, among other things, health care, housing and other benefits from IS. She writes that they also attended Sharia courses, Koran school and language training under the auspices of IS.
– It is disputed that it is a criminal offense to receive training in the Koran and Arabic, says Lippestad.
He believes that being married and a housewife is not a criminal offense either, and says that these things will be an important part of the evidence.
He asks the court to acquit the 30-year-old woman.
The youngest sister’s defender, Hilde Firman Fjellså, is also clear that her client must be acquitted. She had recently turned 16 when she and her then 19-year-old older sister traveled to Syria in 2016.
– I ask the court to think about her age and what real options she had to survive in Syria, says Fjellså.
New information – asking for closed doors
The defenders have asked for closed doors in parts of the case, and have announced that they will bring up circumstances relating to the youngest of the sisters which they believe must be important for how the court assesses the question of guilt. The information is new, and appeared shortly before the trial started.
The court will decide on the question of closed doors before the sisters start their testimony on Wednesday.
The information also led to another questioning of the eldest sister on Monday last week, while the youngest sister did not want to be questioned again.
State prosecutor Marit Formo said during the introductory lecture on Tuesday that she believes that the new information should not have any impact on the question of guilt.
– Our submission will be that such underlying allegations should have no say in the question of guilt, but it may have an impact on sentencing, said Formo.
Was welcomed by a Norwegian woman in Syria
In his introductory speech, Formo said that the eldest sister has been in 18 interviews with the police since she was brought home from Syria in March last year. The youngest sister has been in 13 interrogations.
– The main features of their explanations are that the plan for the trip to Syria was to carry out aid work. They deny that the purpose of the trip was to become part of ISIL or other rebel groups, says Formo.
She says that after arriving in Syria, the sisters were received by another Norwegian woman who came to Syria in February of the same year, and her Norwegian husband, the well-known IS foreign fighter Bastian Vasquez. In 2022, the Norwegian woman was convicted in the Supreme Court of participation in IS for her marriage to Vasquez, who died in 2015.
The convicted woman is among those who will testify in the trial.
– Both acknowledge that after arriving in Syria they got married and had children. They acknowledge that they married men who were part of ISIL, and who fought for ISIL, says Formo.
She explained to the court the educational difference in the use of the more everyday IS – the Islamic State – and the longer ISIL, which stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, but emphasized that it does not imply any practical difference between the two.
The eldest sister had two daughters in Syria in 2015 and 2017, while the youngest had a daughter in 2015.
– Underwent a radicalization process
It is previously known that in the period before they left, the sisters began to wear more covering clothing, pray more frequently and also participated in events organized by the Muslim organization Islam Net.
– The prosecution’s allegation will be that the defendants underwent a radicalization process during the period, says Formo.
She says that in the period before they left, the girls had also started planning the trip. They kept the plans hidden from the family.
– There is no agreement between the prosecution and the defendants that the planning of the trip is related to them becoming more religious, and – in the prosecution’s view – more radical, says Formo.
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