In a closed-door court hearing today, the Norwegian man accused of killing 68 people in a horrific violent rampage reportedly told the judge that two more terror cells exist in his organization. Anders Behring Breivik's hearing was closed to the public after Norwegians strongly objected to giving him a public platform, but afterward the judge, Kim Heger, shared some of what occurred inside. "The goal of the attack was to give a strong signal to the people," the judge quoted Breivik as saying. Reuters reports that Breivik also accused the ruling Labour Party of betraying Norway with "mass imports of Muslims."
Anti-Muslim sentiment abounds in Breivik's 1,500-page manifesto, which quotes Robert Spencer, who operates the Jihad Watch Web site, 64 times, as well as Pamela Geller, the Islamaphobic blogger who has been active in protests against a mosque and community center planned for Lower Manhattan. In a recent blog post, Geller defended herself, writing, "If anyone incited him to violence, it was Islamic supremacists."
Judge Heger ordered Breivik detained in solitary confinement for eight weeks, with no letters, newspapers or visits, except from a lawyer. The maximum sentence in Norway is 21 years, but that can be extended if there is a risk of repeat offenses. "In theory he can be in jail for the rest of his life," Staale Eskeland, professor of criminal law at the University of Oslo, tells Reuters. Outside the court today, angry crowds banged on a car they believed to contain Breivik, and one person said, "Everyone here wants him dead." Elsewhere in the city, mourners joined in several minutes of silence to remember the victims.
Today officials have revised the death count, which was earlier believed to total 93; it's now being reported that there are 76 confirmed dead from Utøya and Oslo. It's also being reported that it took police over an hour to get to the island because "one boat, overloaded with officers and equipment, was forced to stop when it began to take on water."
Meanwhile, reporters have been digging up more on Breivik; in his youth he was a prolific graffiti artist, and Ocala.coom reports that "when Anders Behring Breivik was not plotting mass murder and fine-tuning the bomb he detonated here last week, he was busy playing video games and blogging, listening to Euro pop and watching episodes of 'True Blood' — except on Sunday nights, when he usually dined with his mother." On the morning of the attack, he wrote in his English-language blog, "This is going to be an all-or-nothing scenario. First coming costume party this autumn, dress up as a police officer. Arrive with insignias:-) Will be awesome as people will be very astonished:-)."
