Zaniar Matapour convicted on ‘terrorism’ and murder charges after attack that killed two people and wounded nine.

A court in Oslo has found an Iranian-born Norwegian man guilty of an attack during Pride celebrations in the Norwegian capital in 2022 and sentenced him to 30 years in prison.

Two people were killed and nine were seriously wounded in the centre of Oslo, on June 25, 2022, in the shootings at three locations, including the London Pub, a hub of the local LGBTQ scene.

The Oslo District Court said on Thursday that Zaniar Matapour, 45, fired 10 rounds with a machinegun and eight shots with a handgun into the crowd.

“The attack undoubtedly targeted gay people,” the court said in its verdict. “The goal was both to kill as many gay people as possible and to instill fear in LGBTQ people more broadly.”

Prosecutors said Matapour, who police said has a history of mental illness, had sworn allegiance to the ISIS (ISIL) group.

He stood trial on charges of committing an “aggravated act of terrorism” and murder. His 30-year sentence was the highest penalty in Norway since terrorism legislation was changed in 2015.

During the trial, both the prosecution and the defence agreed that Matapour had shot into a crowd and there was no disagreement that the shooting was “terror-motivated”.

His prison term could be extended indefinitely if he is deemed to continue to pose a threat to society, according to Norwegian media reports.

However, Matapour’s lawyer, Marius Dietrichson, had sought an acquittal, saying his client had been provoked to carry out the attack by a Danish intelligence agent who was pretending to be a high-ranking member of ISIL.

The shooting shocked Norway, which has a relatively low crime rate but has experienced so-called lone wolf attacks in recent decades.

“This is a big relief,” the head of the support group for survivors and victims’ relatives, Espen Evjenth, told public broadcaster NRK.

The verdict comes days after the annual Oslo Pride Parade, which paid tribute to the victims of the shooting. An estimated 70,000 revellers marched in this year’s event.

As Britain votes for its next prime minister on Thursday, one expert believes Nigel Farage and his Reform UK Party will help shape British conservative politics in this and future elections.

“He’s going to make noise,” Matthew Tyrmand, a conservative political activist and adviser to political parties across Europe, told Fox News Digital. “He’s obviously a walking billboard on ideas. People follow him, he’s visible, so he will be able to punch well above the weight of the party’s representation in Parliament.”

Tyrmand met Farage 10 years ago at CPAC and since then has regularly spoken with the political maverick throughout his various political endeavors, including Brexit and his latest run for political office.

The Reform UK party, founded in 2018, appointed Farage as leader shortly after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a snap election to take place on July 4. In the past six weeks, Reform has led to an erosion of support for the Conservative Party and will most likely expand its representation in Parliament beyond its current one member: Lee Anderson, who defected from the Conservatives earlier this year.

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Despite those significant gains, Tyrmand suggested that Farage’s influence will largely remain outside of Parliament, for now. 

“The contention that he will, you know, be the leader of the opposition, that is an aggressive talking point,” Tyrmand said. “Formally, that will certainly not be the case, but ideologically and in visibility, there will be a case to be made for it.”

“This will set him and Reform up should a Labour government stumble, which I’d be willing to bet that they will do more of the same, whether it’s unfettered immigration or not protecting the working-class people, and wages will still be stagnant,” he added. 

Reform has nearly matched the Conservatives in polling, with around 17% support compared to the Conservatives’ roughly 20%, according to The Telegraph’s polling data from Savanta.

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Tyrmand said that in the British system, because of how votes are spread over constituencies, even if Reform ends up taking 10% to 20% of the vote, it could end up having very few seats overall.

Nigel Farage enjoys a pint during the then-Brexit Party general election campaign tour on Nov. 24, 2019, in Seaham, England. (Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)

“That alone is going to shine a light on the system and how indirectly, unproportionately representative it is, and people [will] be pissed off about that, as they should be,” he said.

Tyrmand argued that Farage’s recent stint on the popular reality show “I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here” helped shed a lot of mysticism around his public persona: Farage finished third in a competition in which contestants subject themselves to a series of trials, according to The Guardian.

Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, addresses voters during a general election campaign event in Clacton-on-Sea, England, on July 3, 2024. (Jose Sarmento Matos/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“People realize he’s not the boogieman that The Sun, The Mirror and The Telegraph and everyone else makes him out to be. The way he campaigns and … watched the football match in the Euro Cup, this is a guy people want to have a beer with,” Tyrmand said.

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“That’s a big part of his appeal and support, but that was really put on steroids after this reality show in December,” Tyrmand added.

The Sun, a newspaper in the U.K. that Pamco Research Group estimated reaches around 8.7 million people per day, endorsed Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer over Farage, but it included him in a final plea to the British public. 

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, left, gets in the ring with boxer Derek Chisora during a visit to Clacton-on-Sea, England, on July 3, 2024. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Normally, only the Labour and Conservative parties would make such bids, and even with a greater presence than Reform, the Liberal-Democrats did not get a chance to make their own pitch.

Farage, in his final plea, said swapping support from the Conservatives to Labour would only “change middle management” and “Britain’s elites are happy to see Keir Starmer replace Rishi Sunak.”

“I am serious about breaking up their rotten two-party system,” Farage wrote. “After Thursday, Reform UK can be the real opposition in Parliament. We will hold Starmer to account over his plans to open Britain’s borders to even more immigration and betray Brexit by taking the knee to the EU.”

Then-Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage and other members of the European Parliament wave flags ahead of a vote on the withdrawal agreement in Brussels on Jan. 29, 2020. (Reuters/Yves Herman)

“And this is just the start,” he added. “Over the next five years, I am serious about building a mass movement for real change. A vote for Reform UK is not a protest vote, it’s not a fantasy vote, it’s not a wasted vote. It’s a vote to change Britain for good.”

Farage has run seven times for a seat in the British Parliament and failed to win, but he found success in the European Parliament as the European MP for South East England in the United Kingdom Independence Party.