A far-right Norwegian man was on Thursday jailed for 21 years for the racially motivated murder of his Chinese-born stepsister and attempting to kill worshippers in a mosque shooting spree.
Philip Manshaus expressed strong anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim views before 2019 attack and was unrepentant at trial.
Manshaus, now 22 years old, shot and killed Johanne Zhangjia Ihle-Hansen in their family home, later explaining he believed the adopted daughter of his father’s spouse posed a risk to the family because of her Asian origin.
He then drove to the nearby al-Noor Islamic Centre and entered the building, firing several shots but hitting no one before being overpowered by a 65-year-old member of the congregation who wrestled away his guns.
“He went in with the purpose of killing as many Muslims as possible,” judge Annika Lindstroem said.
Manshaus expressed admiration for the massacre of over 50 people at two New Zealand mosques in 2019 by a white supremacist who filmed and broadcast the killings live.
The attack also drew comparisons with the massacre of 77 people by far-right mass killer Anders Behring Breivik in 2011 in Norway’s worst peacetime atrocity.
Manshaus wore a helmet camera, filming the mosque shooting, however failed in his attempt to broadcast the attack online. (Reuters/NAN)