NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service Workshop 8: radicalisation on the Internet – the criminal justice perspective Eirik Trønnes Hansen prosecutor, NCIS Norway Octopus Conference 2015, June 18, 2015, Strasbourg

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service Agenda Introduction Two case studies: Anders Behring Breivik Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow Current work against radicalisation Areas of responsibilites and organisation Conclusion

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service Case study: Anders Behring Breivik

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service July 22, 2011: the attacks at Oslo and Utøya

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service Search for tweets with the words «explosion», «shooting» or «shot», during the attacks in Oslo and at Utøya. Source: Article by Robindra Prabhu, Norwegian Board of Technology, personvern/apenhet-og- sikkerhet/politiet-bor-overvake-apne- sosiale-medier/, personvern/apenhet-og- sikkerhet/politiet-bor-overvake-apne- sosiale-medier/ graph by Birgitte Blandhoel.

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service " It all started on social media:"

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service "The man who detonated a bomb in Oslo before killing at least 85 people on Utoya island posted a 12 minute video on YouTube hours before committing the atrocities."

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service "Anders Behring Breivik sent his manifesto to 1,003 addresses at 2.09 pm on Friday – less than an hour and a half before he detonated a bomb in Oslo." Many of the addresses were obtained by his active use of Facebook and other social media.

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service "Anders Behring Breivik’s use of the Internet and social media" Jacob Aasland Ravndal, FFI (The Norwegian Defense Research Establishment), 2013: "This article article describes Breivik’s use of the Internet and social media along four dimensions: (1) online radicalization, (2) online gaming, (3) online attack preparations, and (4) online propaganda." "A key finding in this study is that Breivik likely never discussed his terrorist plans with anyone online. Moreover, his comments on various Internet forums do not stand out as particularly when compared to typical far-right online discourse. In other words, Norwegian security authorities would likely not react to his online postings even if he was being monitored."

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service "Breivik’s online posts also indicate that his critical views on Islam and socialism had been established long before the so-called counterjihad blogs were created. This means that these blogs may have played a less decisive role for Breivik’s early radicalization than assumed by many. Later on, however, these blogs certainly strengthened Breivik’s radical thinking, although they come across as far less radical than his own ideological statements after 22 July."

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service "Breivik’s correspondence shows that he first and foremost wanted to become a professional author and publisher. He proposed to establish a so-called cultural conservative paper journal together with Norwegian bloggers he admired, who were also critical of Islam and multiculturalism. (…) The fact that he was rejected by several of the people he looked up to may have had a decisive influence on his violent radicalization."

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service "Breivik gathered all the necessary information to build his bomb online. He also financed the terrorist attacks through an online company, and used the Internet, in particular e-Bay, to buy materials such as body armor, weapons components and bomb ingredients. Breivik also systematically used social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter for propaganda purposes."

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service Case study: Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service The Westgate shopping mall attack : at least 67 killed at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya. The Islamist group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility , New York Times: «In Kenya Inquiry, Norway Looks at Somali Migrant.»

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service "A quite ordinary terrorist, radicalised in a quite ordinary way." 2005/ /2009

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service "From model student in Norway to mass murderer in Kenya"

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service Radicalized in Larvik, Norway, via Internet : active on several online forums, including Islam.no, al-qimmah.net and the Norwegian subforum at 7cgen.com. Posted "Islamic quizs's about JIHAD + Paradise and Hellfire" as "Al Somal" and recruited other Norwegian Muslims to "his" online network.

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service "Interests: Jannah – Jihad"

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service Radicalised via Internet contact with a Swedish-Somalian man, recruiting for al-Shabaab

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service Dhuhulow was contacted by the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) Spring 2008: tip-off about his possible support for terrorism. PST started to follow his online activities. June 2010: PST had a talk with Dhuhulow, and expressed their concerns. Later, they also contacted several of his friends to stop his radicalisation. August 2010: PST stopped Dhuhulow at Oslo Airport. He was travelling to Somalia and claimed he would be back in 14 days. He never returned to Norway.

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service

2013: "Preventing Radicalisation and Violent Extremism on the Internet" Report by Dr. Inger-Marie Sunde, Norwegian Police Police University College. Includes three articles from The Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (FFI) on Internet extremism; one by Jacob Aasland Ravndal on Anders Behring Breivik's use of social media. From the abstract: "Online countermeasures need to respect free speech and privacy. Even very unpopular ideological views have a fundamental right of legal protection." "(…) the importance of social media for recruitment and radicalisation have been underestimated so far."

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service 2014: Government action plan: Thirty measures, in five areas: -Knowledge and expertise -Cooperation and coordination -Prevent the growth of extremist groups and help promote reintegration -Prevent radicalisation and recruitment through the Internet  Enhance the police’s presence on the Internet  Prevent discrimination, harassment and hate expressions on the Internet  Prevention of hate rhetoric  Increase the knowledge about how to counteract undesirable experiences on the Internet  Improve the efforts to prevent hate expressions and radicalisation on the Internet -International cooperation

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service Multi-party approach: parties to be involved in preventive efforts.

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service : "This web page is for people who want help, advice or information about radicalisation and violent extremism."

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service "Enhance the police’s presence on the Internet A group shall be established to improve the police’s preventative efforts against radicalisation and violent extremism on the Internet. This group shall openly be present on websites that can promote radicalisation and violent extremism, e.g. by actively taking part in discussions. The group shall also assist with competence building for other police services in the prevention of radicalisation and violent extremism on the Internet. Furthermore, already established services for providing helpful tips on the Internet under the direction of the National Criminal Investigation Service (Kripos) shall be further developed with the aim of becoming a better tool to prevent radicalisation and extremism on the Internet. Responsibility: Ministry of Justice and Public Security" From the Action Plan, Measure 24:

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service Shared responsibilities within the Norwegian police The Police Security Services (PST) will handle cases regarding "foreign warriors" and terrorism. The local police districts will handle other cases on radicalisation, including Internet radicalisation, in cooperation with other government and private parties. Local radicalisation points of contact Local action plans The National Criminal Investigation Service (NCIS Norway) will assist local police in Internet-related issues. The Internet Related Invenstigation Support Unit is in the process of hiring more personell to handle the work on radicalisation.

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service Local cooperation: 2014: Rogaland police district, Stavanger, published a guidance document on preventing radicalisation and violent extremism June 15, 2015: the Mayor of Stavanger presents to the City Council a strategy for preventing radicalisation.

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service A role for independent initiatives? Example: "JustUnity". PST: cooperation positive, but "problematic" if private organisations should try to prevent strongly radicalised people from taking part in actions of war, for example in Syria.

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service The Chairman of JustUnity, Geir Lippestad, was the defense counsel for Anders Behring Breivik.

NCIS Norway National Criminal Investigation Service