Experts split on mental health of Oslo Pride shooter

Psychiatric experts in Norway are at odds over the mental health, and associated legal responsibility, of a shooter who killed two people on the sidelines of Oslo’s 2022 Pride festival, police said Thursday.

On the night of June 25, 2022, a shooter opened fire outside a gay bar in central Oslo during the festival, killing two men, aged 54 and 60, and wounding nine others.

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Just after the attack, police arrested the suspect, Zaniar Matapour, a now 44-year-old Norwegian of Pakistani origin who had contacts with a known Islamist in Norway, Arfan Bhatti.

Two psychiatrists who examined Matapour found he was mentally sane at the time and therefore legally responsible for his actions, but a third expert came to the opposite conclusion.

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A forensic committee will now examine their findings, and the final decision about his legal responsibility will lie with judges.

Matapour is currently in custody on suspicion of a terrorist act, but has yet to be charged. His trial could take place in 2024.

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Bhatti, who is suspected of being an accessory, has been arrested in Pakistan and Norwegian authorities are seeking his extradition.

In June, Norway’s domestic intelligence service apologised after a report concluded it could have prevented the shooting.