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Norway jails Pak man for 30 years

Reuters January 17, 2026 Less than a minute read

Security forces stand at the site where several people were injured during a shooting outside the London pub in central Oslo, Norway June 25, 2022. REUTERS

OSLO:

A Norwegian court on Friday found an man guilty of orchestrating a deadly shooting at a gay bar during Oslo's 2022 Pride celebrations, sentencing him to the country's maximum term of 30 years in prison.

Arfan Bhatti, a 48-year-old Norwegian citizen born in Oslo, stood trial on charges of complicity in aggravated terrorism for planning the attack even though he was in Pakistan at the time of the shooting.

Two people died and eight others were wounded by bullets when a lone gunman, identified as Iranian-born Norwegian Zaniar Matapour, opened fire on the London Pub, a hub of Oslo's LGBTQ+ scene, and a next-door bar in the centre of Norway's capital.

Dozens more suffered lesser injuries in the chaos that followed. In July 2024, Matapour was convicted of murder and aggravated terrorism for carrying out the attack, and was also sentenced to 30 years in prison. Bhatti was extradited to Norway in 2024 and has remained in custody. "Bhatti has appealed the judgment forthwith and maintains that he has had no involvement whatsoever with the shooting," his lawyers John Christian Elden and Bernt Heiberg said in a statement to Reuters.