In July this year, the 31-year-old was sentenced to eight years in prison for membership in the terrorist organization IS in a trial in Iraq, reports NRK.

He is currently imprisoned in Iraq and has, according to his defense lawyer, admitted that he was part of the terrorist organization.

- The goal was to defend Islam.

He also says he regrets it, says defense attorney Ahmed Tahir Abdulla.

Involved in right-wing extremist group

The man who is now imprisoned in Iraq came to Norway in 2006 from Russia with his family and received a residence permit.  

His life was already fraught with crime and a year after the move he was sentenced to 21 days in prison for embezzling money. 

The 31-year-old became deeply involved in the right-wing extremist group Metal Tattoo in Oslo.

But after another of the Russian participants in the group was expelled from the country, he visited a mosque. 

Converted to Islam

In an article on a closed blog, the man himself described what happened after he visited the mosque and gained access to a Koran translated into Russian.

NRK reports. 

- I was very interested in the Qur'an and what gave Muslims spiritual strength to sacrifice for the sake of Allah.

The more I read, the more I began to understand that Allah's religion is the truth, the 31-year-old man said at the time.

He also stated that he converted to Islam in the spring of 2011 and that he was drafted into the Islamic State's terrorist army in 2014.

"The judges felt sorry for him"

During an attack in 2019, the same year as the 31-year-old was arrested, he lost his right leg.

Something that his defense lawyer says was a contributing factor to him not receiving a higher sentence in the trial.  

- He presented himself as innocent and that he had been deceived.

The judges felt sorry for him because he has lost his leg and is a lone child, says defense lawyer Ahmed Tahir Abdulla to NRK.  

At trial, the 31-year-old man asked for forgiveness and pardon.

He also asked if it was possible to go back to Norway.  

NRK states that the man is one of the people with IS connections who have been deported from Norway by the country's Minister of Justice.