Malta-based anti-jihad blogger Paul Ray, who writes under the pseudonym Lionheart, is on the list of people whom the Norwegian police want to question.
Mr Ray has been described in the international press as a possible mentor and inspiration to Anders Behring Breivik, who on July 22 killed at least 77 people in Oslo and Utøya Island.
The Englishman’s pseudonym was mentioned in the assassin’s 1,500-page manifesto. Mr Breivik says that in 2002 he attended a meeting to set up a Templar organisation in London, where he was assigned a “mentor” codenamed Richard (the Lionhearted).
Yesterday, Norwegian police said they would be meeting people on an international list of those who have been associated with Mr Breivik. The list includes Mr Ray.
“I’m more than willing to go to Norway to discuss anything with the Norwegians about anything,” Mr Ray told The Times yesterday.
The blogger, however, has denied any contact whatsoever with the assassin and is confident that once the truth comes out he will be cleared.
He was quoted in The Times of London yesterday saying he had had direct contact online with Mr Breivik and that he had turned down a Facebook friend request, but he said the report was false. The paper’s correspondent stood by his story.
Asked whether there was an international request for Mr Ray to be interviewed, the Maltese police said the information was not in the public interest and cited the sensitivity of any intelligence it may have.
“Once I’m justified and exonerated from this, I’ll be pursuing legal action against these people who have made false allegations in the press,” Mr Ray said.
“If he was inspired by my blog, I could understand if he killed a group of Islamic fundamentalists... and I could join the dots together. This guy killed nearly 100 children because of their political ideology that in no way equates to my beliefs on my blog.”
He will “definitely close” his Lionheart blog, he said, but in the meantime he has another outlet, posting onexiledinmalta.blogspot.com as AOTK (Ancient Order of Templar Knights), where he warns the country of the terrorist threat it faces because of Libya.
“You have a threat to national security. The majority of people coming into this country are Somalis, who are the biggest threat to the UK because of Al Shabaab ... you’ve got 4,000 of them on your island, you’re gonna tell me they’re all innocent?”
He muses that because of the “war with Libya” Malta is now a prime target for Muammar Gaddafi: “Malta stood against him as part of the EU... the only weapon he has left is international terrorism, if he commits a terrorist attack here in Malta he’s got the opportunity to kill people from every one of the coalition countries that are against him, especially in Paceville.”
Mr Ray is seen on an online video prowling around at the Marsa Open Centre, which houses immigrants, with former Neo-Nazi Nick Greger, who has been convicted for violence and who now lives in Malta. The claim is that the centre is a possible terrorist sleeper cell.
“I understand and see a threat to your country, so I write about that threat, I go to places you don’t go, I talk to people you don’t talk to. It doesn’t mean that what I see is wrong, it means that what I see is completely different from what you see,” he said.
“Crucify me for telling you the truth; crucify me for pointing out a threat to your country and your national security, am I going to be crucified for that?” Mr Ray says.
“I’m being stitched up here,” the man who was unwittingly thrown into the media spotlight says. “If I was his mentor, it wouldn’t have been very wise or friendly of him to actually pinpoint me so that the police come and arrest me,” he says of Mr Breivik.
He points to other anti-jihad activists as people the murderer has links with including English Defence League activist Alan Lake, anti-jihad blogger Fjordman, whom Mr Breivik cites as an inspiration, and Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders.
Mr Ray does admit to being connected indirectly to Fjordman. “I was in contact with him via (anti-jihad website) Gates of Vienna, I was in contact with all of them people: Gates of Vienna, Civil Liberties Alliance, Chris Knowles, they are the people I was in connection with, not Fjordman at all, ever,” he says.