Australia - The Australian Federal Police did not pursue the extradition of an Islamic extremist over the murder of an Australian cameraman in Iraq, the ABC can reveal.
A diplomatic cable dated 2009 and leaked to WikiLeaks suggests there were "no obstacles" to such an extradition request being approved.
Paul Moran, a freelance cameraman, was killed in a suicide attack while on assignment for the ABC in 2003.
Iraqi terrorist group Ansar al Islam claimed responsibility for the attack. The group’s founder, Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, also known as Mullah Krekar, openly taunted the Australian Government to come and get him.
But no-one did.
In 2007 the ABC's Foreign Correspondent broadcast Norwegian Jihad: An investigation of Mullah Krekar.
An AFP spokesman has told Foreign Correspondent that officials considered launching a probe into the case.
"The evaluation of evidence was considered against a possible offence under section 115 of the Criminal Code 1995 (Harming Australians)," he said.
"In this case, there was insufficient information available to justify an investigation and as a result the AFP determined not to investigate the matter."
But there is no indication of how the AFP reached this conclusion.
Australia's most experienced international war crimes prosecutor, Graham Blewitt, has slammed the decision as "a lot of crock, a fob-off".
Mr Blewitt was deputy chief prosecutor at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal from 1994 to 2004 and also headed the Australian Nazi War Crimes Unit in the early 1990s.
He says the AFP "has a policy of not touching anything to do with terrorism or war crimes with a 10-foot pole".
"They don't want to do it. Too expensive," he said.
"Their argument that it's difficult to pursue witnesses and evidence overseas is a load of crap."
Mr Blewitt has accused the Federal Government of lacking the political will to pursue suspects as "there are no votes in war crimes, they walk away from it".
Who is Krekar?
Mr Blewitt's broadside came as Krekar, a Norwegian resident, was sentenced to five years' jail by an Oslo court for threatening officials, immigrants and a leading politician.
The court found he had threatened the life of current opposition leader Erna Solberg, who as a government minister in 2003 had approved Krekar's expulsion order after he was deemed a threat to national security.
Krekar, an ethnic Kurd from northern Iraq, was also convicted of threatening the lives of three other Kurdish immigrants living in Norway.
ABC America and Time magazine have reported that Krekar will be called as a defence witness in the trial of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik.
Krekar's conviction and sentencing was the end of a charmed 11-year run for the founder of Ansar al Islam, an Al Qaeda-affiliated Islamic extremist group listed as a terrorist organisation by the UN, United States, Australia, Canada and many other nations.
During the past decade, Ansar al Islam has claimed responsibility for numerous acts of terrorism within Iraq, and stands accused of multiple human rights abuses.
For a man who had "declared war on the West", Krekar had, until last week, brilliantly exploited the progressive values and judicial process of his adopted homeland.
The intelligence agencies and police forces of several nations had targeted him, but through a series of court battles, he had beaten them all.
Krekar arrived in Norway in 1991 seeking asylum. After securing residency, he routinely commuted back to Iraq and in 2001 established Ansar al Islam.
His goal was to establish a Taliban-style Islamic state in northern Iraq.
In 2002, US intelligence agents allegedly abandoned an "extraordinary rendition", after their plans to kidnap the mullah from his Norwegian sanctuary were leaked to Krekar's lawyer.
Krekar says he replaced the Kalashnikov with a laptop, taking his jihad online.
He became a minor celebrity in Norway, launching his autobiography, debating opponents on TV and in nightclubs. He was the go-to mullah for journalists seeking blood-curdling commentary on the war in Iraq.
In 2005 Norway formally declared Krekar a threat to national security and ordered his deportation.
The only problem was, he had nowhere to go.
Krekar was wanted by the US and Iraq, but Norway steadfastly refuses to deport individuals to countries that impose the death penalty.
The only destination to which the Norwegians considered sending Krekar was Australia.
But Canberra doesn’t want him, despite Krekar's group claiming responsibility for the murder of an Australian national.
In March 2003, an Ansar al Islam suicide bomber killed Moran, who was on assignment for the ABC in northern Iraq.
ABC journalist Eric Campbell was wounded in the attack.
Five Kurdish soldiers manning the targeted checkpoint also died.
Citing the murder of Moran, the Australian Government immediately listed Ansar al Islam as a terrorist group, formally naming Krekar as a leader.
But there was no investigation into the circumstances of Moran's death.
As a Middle-East based freelance cameraman, Moran had openly worked for PR firm The Rendon Group.
In a Rolling Stone feature article, leading American intelligence writer James Bamford claimed Rendon's clients included the US CIA and the Pentagon.
Rendon reportedly received millions of dollars from the US to run an anti-Saddam propaganda campaign in the lead-up to the war.
But Krekar did not see a link between the allegations and Moran's death.
'Wrong place, wrong work'
In 2007, Krekar told Foreign Correspondent that Moran was killed because he happened to be filming a military checkpoint targeted by the suicide bomber - "the wrong work in the wrong time in the wrong place".
But there was no apology from Ansar's founder.
"He was also with our enemy," Krekar said.
Krekar boasted that he personally recruited and trained the Ansar suicide bomber unit that killed Moran, but he denied personal responsibility for the Australian's murder, claiming he had formally relinquished Ansar's leadership nine months earlier in May 2002.
The mullah says he took on the role of Oslo-based online spiritual advisor. But Krekar had not transformed into a man of peace.
He told Foreign Correspondent that he encouraged his followers to kill Australian troops and any Iraqis who assisted them.
Both the UN and US dispute Krekar's claim to have resigned from Ansar's leadership in 2002, alleging he still covertly ran a terrorist network from Oslo.
In December 2006, both the US Treasury and UN Security Council declared Krekar an Al Qaeda facilitator, stating that he was still covertly financing Ansar through a European network.
The US Treasury also asserted that in 2006, Krekar was still active as a recruiter and commanded Ansar fighters in Iraq.
Bloody trail
Today, Ansar al Islam remains on Australia's terrorism list.
The details make for grim reading: a bloody trail of suicide bombings, arbitrary executions and beheadings through the chaos of Iraq.
Increasingly embarrassed by the Krekar saga, the Norwegians were desperate.
In November 2011, WikiLeaks released a US State Department cable recounting details of a meeting in 2009 between US diplomats and Norwegian foreign ministry officials.
The talks focused on Krekar's possible extradition to Australia to face a war crimes investigation over Moran's murder.
According to the leaked cable, the discussion focused on Foreign Correspondent’s reporting of the Krekar case, and demands by the Australian journalists' union, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), for the Australian Government to investigate Krekar over Moran's murder.
The Americans reported that "our MFA (Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs) contact stated that he saw "no obstacles" to approving such a request, in the hypothetical case that the GOA (Government of Australia) eventually requested such extradition".
Krekar openly taunted the Australian Government to come and get him. But no-one bothered.
So, who did the AFP talk to in deciding not to pursue Krekar?
"It is not appropriate for the AFP to comment about investigative actions or decisions," an AFP spokesman said.
Having outsmarted numerous intelligence agencies, frustrated Norwegian officials and being studiously ignored by Canberra, it was ultimately Krekar's relish for provocative publicity that was his undoing.
In June 2010, he told an Oslo press conference that if he was deported, Norwegian officials would "pay with their lives".
"If I die it will be the beginning of the killings," he said.
Now in custody, Krekar is expected to appeal against his sentence, a process that could take up to eight months.
If his appeal fails, he faces five years in prison.
No doubt Krekar will have plenty of time to ponder his fate.
Life could be worse. He could be in Australia.