The man who open fired at a mosque in Norway, after killing his step sister, has been sentenced to jail for 21 years.
In Norway, a far-right Norwegian man shot his Chinese-born stepsister and then open-fired at people in mosque, in a racially motivated act of terrorism.
Philip Manshaus, who is now 22 years old, shot and killed Johanne Zhangjia Ihle-Hansen, his adopted stepsister, in their family home. He then drove to the nearby al-Noor Islamic Centre. He entered the building and open-fired.
He was unsuccessful in injuring anyone at the mosque, as a 65-year-old man tackled the shooter.
Philip, in his defense, said he assumed that the Asian-origin adopted sister posed a threat to his family, simply because of her origin.
“He went in with the purpose of killing as many Muslims as possible,” judge Annika Lindstroem said.
He was inspired by the New Zealand mosque shooting, which killed more than 50 people. Just like that incident, Philip, too wore a helmet camera to film the mosque shooting. However, unlike New Zealand shooter, he\ failed in his attempt to broadcast the attack online.
The court rejected his plea of being declared insane, and went with the word of a psychiatric evaluation which found him fit to stand trial.
The court has also contained a provision that his release can be put off indefinitely should he still be considered a threat to society.
(With inputs from Reuters)
