Imam of Oslo mosque seriously wounded in axe attack by SIAN activitists

OSLO,Norway, 17 June-2014(AFP): The imam of Oslo’s main mosque was recuperating in hospital on Tuesday after a masked assailant repeatedly hacked him with a small axe in the centre of the Norwegian capital, a report said.

Imam of Oslo mosque seriously wounded in axe attack by SIAN activitists

Nehma Ali Shah was attacked as he returned home from the Central Jamaat Ahle-Sunnat mosque in Oslo late Monday. AFP Photo /NTB scanpix /SOLUM STIAN LYSBERG

Nehma Ali Shah was attacked as he returned home from the Central Jamaat Ahle-Sunnat mosque late on Monday, the Aftenposten daily reported. The religious leader, who suffered wounds to his face and hands, was in a stable condition after undergoing an operation, it said.

The police said they would hold a press conference on the attack later on Tuesday. On their Twitter account, the police said that a stabbed man had been taken to hospital with serious injuries and that numerous units were hunting for the attacker.

Editor’s addition:

The imam Nehma Ali Shah, Oslo mosque  previously come to lime light for patronized the invitation of anti-Islamists to coffee. Norwegian convert Yousef Assidiq has invited the anti-Islamist organization SIAN to come and drink coffee with congregation members at an Oslo mosque, tweeting “Dialogue, baby!” when the RSVPs began tumbling in. He tells The Local why it is time for a coffee break.
Assidiq sent out the invite to the organization Stop The Islamization of Norway (Stopp islamiseringen av Norge – SIAN), hoping they would accept and come for coffee on July 20th at the Galgeberg mosque in Oslo.

“I realized that we have to take their fear seriously,”Assidiq told The Local on Tuesday.

“They are genuinely scared that we have some kind of plan to take over and that our intention in society is to break it down and oppose the values of liberal Western democracy.”

On Monday he tweeted that several SIAN members had already told him they were interested in attending the informal chat, but that he was still waiting for an official response from the organization’s leader.

“I hope that meeting them face to face and showing that we take their concerns seriously and opening our mosques for them(…)will at least get us a little closer as humans,” Assidiq said.
SIAN’s leader, meanwhile, said he was hoping for more than a lecture in what Islam stands for.

“Our initial response is that SIAN is very grateful (for the invitation), because it means we get the chance to explain what we stand for,” Arne Tumyr told NRK.

“If their intention is to give us a monologue about Islam, we’ll see what happens.”