Has Low IQ – Gets Only Six Months in Prison for Rape of Teenage Girl

The sentence for a 21-year-old Syrian who was convicted of raping a 13-year-old Norwegian girl is only six months in prison after the court cited, among other things, his low IQ.

On March 31, Abdelmonem Abdelrazak Al-Yousef was found guilty by the Nord-Troms and Senja District Court for the rape that took place on the night of September 7, 2024, near the harbor terminal in Tromsø.

According to Remix News, the teenage girl had left her home during the night and walked into the city center. At the harbor terminal, she met Al-Yousef and another man. Since the Syrian spoke only Arabic, there was little conversation.

Al-Yousef first assaulted the girl on a bench near a hotel before the attack continued at a covered bicycle parking area. He also attempted to have vaginal intercourse with the girl but did not succeed as the victim resisted.

Al-Yousef came to Norway from Syria in 2023 and initially denied ever having met the girl. He also denied being the person seen on surveillance footage. Eventually, he admitted to meeting and kissing the girl but continued to deny any sexual activity.

DNA Test

However, his sperm was found at the scene and DNA tests showed that it belonged to the Syrian. The court found his defense completely lacking in credibility. It also determined that Al-Yousef should have understood that the girl was underage.

The girl had herself said she was born in 2008. In police interviews, Al-Yousef stated that she appeared small and about as old as his younger sister, who was born in 2010.

Intellectual Disability

After forensic psychiatric experts determined that he had a mild intellectual disability, and his IQ was initially assessed at 41 but later placed between 64 and 75, the sentence was reduced. The court used his low intelligence as a mitigating circumstance. They claimed that although he was 19 at the time, his developmental level could be regarded as comparable to that of the 13-year-old victim.

In the verdict, the district court wrote that the Syrian also had “a reduced perception of reality.” The case was also affected by a legal change that came into effect last year, when the minimum sentence for rape of a child under 14 years was repealed. Previously, such cases carried a minimum sentence of three years in prison.

Although the court described the assaults as degrading and clearly exploitative, noting that they took place outdoors in public after the accused and the victim had met only shortly before, they still set a starting point of two years in prison before the effective sentence was lowered.

After deductions for Al-Yousef’s low developmental level and the age of the case, one year and six months of the sentence were suspended with a three-year probation period. He will therefore serve six months in prison.