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OSLO — A A Norwegian court identified the suspect in a gay bar in Oslo as a Norwegian citizen from Iran on Monday after advising the organizers to stop the solidarity demonstration in honor of the victims.
Police initially approved an upcoming rally by the city's LGBTQ community outside the Oslo City Hall.
However, they later asked the organizers to cancel as the scope of the event expanded and security concerns raised Norway's highest level of terrorist threat assessment following Saturday's attack. I advised.
Oslo Pride, one of the supporters of the demonstration on Monday and the organizer of the annual Pride Celebration scheduled for Saturday, cannot comment immediately. was.
The Oslo District Court previously named Zaniar Matapour that two suspects were killed and 21 were injured in the attack.
Police described him as a radical Muslim with a history of mental illness
Courts first detained Matapour on Monday during an investigation into a mass shooting. Determine the conditions for. According to police, he will receive a psychiatric evaluation as part of that.
He was captured by a passerby chasing the street. Police arrived at the scene five minutes after receiving the first emergency call and detained him.
Intelligence agencies have known Matapur since 2015 and said he was part of the Norwegian Islamic extremist network.
"Around 2015, we were worried about this person," Rogerberg, head of the Norwegian police intelligence agency PST, told commercial broadcaster TV2 on Saturday.
"We followed him to some extent. These days he wasn't one of the people we were most worried about."
Suspect's lawyer, John Christian Elden did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.
He told TV2 that it was impossible to draw conclusions about the motives and reasons for the attack. "It's too early to do that," he said.
Matapour has been accused of murder, attempted murder, and terrorism. His reaction to the accusation is unknown.
He emigrated to Norway as a child with his parents, became his father, and lived primarily for several years, the tabloid VG reported. (Report by Gwladys Fouche, edited by John Stonestreet)
