OSLO, Oct 16 — A Norwegian court has sentenced a former US embassy security guard to three years and seven months in prison for spying for Russia and Iran.
The 28-year-old Norwegian man was convicted of providing floor plans, personal details of embassy staff and their families, and information about activities at the US embassy between March and November 2024.
In exchange, he was paid €10,000 (RM49,462) from Russian intelligence and 0.17 bitcoin from Iranian intelligence, the court ruled yesterday.
In its judgment made public today, the Oslo court said the information was “of a nature that could be used for direct actions and physical attacks against the concerned individuals.”
“The accused understood that disclosing this information could harm US security interests,” the court noted.
During his trial, the accused admitted to the actions which he said was in protest against the United States’ backing of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, but denied the charge of aggravated espionage for which he was convicted.
He argued that the information he transmitted was not classified.
The defence has not yet decided whether to appeal but argued that the court had “applied an overly broad interpretation of what constitutes unlawful intelligence activity”.
The defendant’s lawyer Inger Zadig said her client “had roughly the same level of access as a janitor at the embassy.”
“The information he shared was worthless and neither separately nor collectively capable of harming individuals or the security interests of any state,” she said.
In Norway, Serbia, or Turkiye, he provided Russian and/or Iranian authorities with the names, addresses, phone numbers, and license plate numbers of embassy diplomats and employees, as well as their spouses and children.
He also sent embassy plans, security routines, and a list of mail services used by Norwegian intelligence.
The prosecution had asked for a sentence of six years and four months for the crime, which is punishable by up to 21 years in prison in Norway.
Norwegian intelligence services have regularly identified Russia — with whom the Nato member shares a border in the Arctic — Iran, and China as the main countries conducting intelligence operations in Norway. — AFP
