Woman jailed over car-chase with Norway anti-Islam activist

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Norwegian flags flutter at Karl Johans street in Oslo, Norway, May 31, 2017. — Reuters pic

OSLO, Jan 26 — A Norwegian court has jailed for 19 months a woman who chased and then rammed a vehicle carrying an anti-Islam extremist who had just burned a Quran.

The woman was found guilty of an attempt to inflict serious bodily harm, according to the judgement, of which AFP received a copy today.

The incident happened minutes after Lars Thoren, head of the Stop The Islamisation of Norway group, had burned a copy of the Quran outside a mosque in the Oslo suburbs.

Two women in a grey Mercedes went after him in a pursuit that was filmed and posted on social media.

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Thoren’s sports utility truck was rammed and turned over onto its roof but none of the five occupants were seriously hurt.

The 49-year-old woman jailed was not driving at the time, but the car belonged to her and she was a passenger at the time. The court said she was guilty of having encouraged the chase.

“The sound and the images show that she contributed psychologically,” said the judges in their ruling, which was handed down on Thursday.

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A case against the 24-year-old driver of the car has yet to be heard.

In Norway, barring exceptional circumstances, it is general practice that a convicted person’s name is not made public as long as they are eligible to appeal.

Thoren is among a group of militants in Scandinavian countries, also including Rasmus Paludan, who have caused anger by burning copies of the Quran in Muslim districts of major cities.

While presented as an expression of freedom of speech, governments in Muslim majority countries have protested the burnings. — AFP