Norway
on Wednesday provisionally jailed controversial Iraqi Kurdish fundamentalist
preacher Mullah Krekar following a conviction in Italy for "terrorist
conspiracy," his lawyer told AFP.
Norwegian
intelligence (PST) had arrested Krekar, 63, on Monday in Oslo under an
international search warrant as well as an Italian arrest warrant, and an Oslo
judge ruled Wednesday that he should be placed in provisional detention for
four weeks.
Italy's
justice ministry meanwhile told Norwegian media that Rome would make an
official extradition request.
However,
the procedure could take years as Krekar's lawyers say they will appeal a
12-year sentence which a court in Bolzano, northern Italy, handed down in
absentia on Monday.
The
Italian court also sentenced five co-accused.
Krekar,
whose real name is Najumuddin Ahmad Faraj, has lived in Norway since 1991. He
was found guilty of leading the Rawti Shax, a network with alleged links to the
ISIS group that is suspected of planning attacks in the West.
His
Norwegian lawyer, Brynjar Meling, said Tuesday that his client rejected the
charge and added that "all appeal avenues" would be pursued.
"He
has no connection with ISIS," Meling told AFP after the Italian court
ruling.
"His
only goal is to come back to Kurdistan in Iraq and be able to [be a] politician
there and set up a political party he wants to establish in Iraq as a free
man," Meling said.
Considered
a threat to national security and featuring on UN and US terror lists, Krekar
has been at risk of deportation since 2003.
Norwegian
law, however, bars his deportation to Iraq because he risks the death penalty
there.
Italy
in 2016 cancelled a request for Krekar's extradition, disappointing Norwegian
officials who saw a lost chance to be relieved of the mullah they saw as troublesome.
He
had spent several years in jail in Norway for threats and inciting violence.