Man sentenced to 30 years in prison for shooting at Oslo 2SLGBTQ+ festival in 2022

An Iranian-born Norwegian man was found guilty on Thursday of terrorism charges in connection with a 2022 attack on a 2SLGBTQ+ festival in Oslo and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The shooting at three locations, mainly outside the London Pub, a popular gay bar, on June 25, 2022, left two people dead and nine seriously injured.

The Oslo District Court said Zaniar fired 10 rounds from a machine gun and eight shots from a handgun into the crowd. They said Matapour had pledged allegiance to Islamic State and “has been radicalized for years.”

His 30-year prison sentence was the longest sentence in Norway since the terrorism law was changed in 2015.

‘A historically severe punishment’

Matapour can apply for parole after 20 years, but can only be released if he is no longer deemed dangerous.

Prosecutor Aud Kinsarvik Gravås called it “the right outcome” and “a historically heavy sentence”. Matapour’s lawyer, Marius Dietrichson, said it was “a heavy sentence” and that they have not yet decided whether to appeal.

Espen Evjenth, who was hit in the forehead by a bullet at the London Pub, told the Norwegian news agency NTB it was “a great relief”.

Extensive video footage of the attack was presented in court. The verdict was not read in court, but was sent electronically. Matapour would have the verdict read to him in prison, the court said.

Matapour was subdued by bystanders after the attack and arrested. A Pride parade was cancelled after the attack, with police saying they could not guarantee safety.

The shooting shocked Norway, which has a relatively low crime rate but has suffered a series of “lone wolf” attacks by individuals in recent decades, including one of the worst mass shootings in Europe. In 2011, a far-right extremist killed 69 people on the island of Utoya after detonating a bomb in Oslo, killing eight.

Shooter claimed he was provoked

Six days before the 2022 attack, the Norwegian intelligence service E-Tjenesten was informed by an undercover agent that an attack in a Scandinavian country was expected. This information was passed on to the domestic security service.

Matapour had pleaded not guilty. He was examined by a court-appointed psychiatrist who concluded that he was of sound mind at the time of the attack.

During the trial, both the prosecution and the defense agreed that Matapour had fired into the crowd and that there was no dispute that the shooting was terror-motivated. However, Dietrichson had sought an acquittal because his client had been challenged to carry out the attack by an E-Tjenesten operative posing as a high-ranking member of the Islamic State group.

The court ruled that “it is clear that the E-Cjenesten’s actions did not constitute an unlawful provocation” and “did not provoke a terrorist act that would not otherwise have been committed.”

The trial began in March and ended on May 16.