The 2019 Bærum Murder and Mosque Attack

The murder of Johanne

Johanne Zhangjia Ihle-Hansen was 17 years old when she was murdered at the family home in Bærum on 10 August 2019. Philip Manshaus later admitted the acts and was prosecuted for her murder and for the subsequent attack on the Al-Noor Islamic Centre.

The criminal case treated the murder as racially motivated. Crime by Region does not reproduce the defendant's extremist rhetoric or treat it as legitimate political argument; it is included only to the extent necessary to explain the motive established in the proceedings.

The attack on Al-Noor

After killing Johanne, Manshaus went to the Al-Noor Islamic Centre in Bærum and attempted an attack on worshippers. He was overpowered inside the mosque before anyone there was killed. The prosecution charged the conduct as terrorism, and the 2020 court found him guilty of both murder and a terrorist attack.

This page deliberately omits technical information about weapons, equipment and attack planning. Those details are not necessary to understand the criminal responsibility, the victims, or the later judicial dispute.

The 2020 judgment

On 11 June 2020, the Asker and Bærum District Court convicted Manshaus of the murder and terrorism and imposed forvaring, a preventive custodial sentence, for 21 years. At that trial he was considered criminally responsible. Contemporary reporting described the sentence as capable of extension if he continued to be considered dangerous.

The original 2020 judgment was not the final chapter. Years later, new psychiatric evidence created a substantial question about whether he had been psychotic at the time of the crimes.

Why the case was reopened

On 15 March 2024, Norway's Criminal Cases Review Commission unanimously granted reopening of the 2020 judgment. Two newly appointed experts had concluded that Manshaus was psychotic at the time of the acts. The Commission did not itself acquit him; it found that the new evidence created a reasonable possibility of a different result and therefore justified a new trial.

That distinction is important. A reopening decision means the old judgment must be reconsidered; it is not a finding that the defendant was innocent or legally insane.

The 2025 retrial and final sentence

At the reopened trial, experts disagreed over Manshaus's mental state in 2019. On **29 October 2025**, Oslo District Court found beyond reasonable doubt that he had been criminally responsible at the time of the murder and mosque attack. The court again convicted him and imposed 21 years' imprisonment, but this time not the earlier form of preventive detention.

Manshaus then chose not to appeal the new 21-year sentence. Reporting on that decision explained that, although he continued to dispute the court's conclusion about his mental state, he did not want to risk a harsher preventive-detention outcome in an appellate court.

Current verified status

As of 27 August 2026, the latest verified merits judgment is the 29 October 2025 Oslo District Court judgment imposing 21 years' imprisonment. Because no appeal was filed, Crime by Region lists the case as Solved / Adjudicated.

The 2024 reopening remains an important part of the record because it shows how new psychiatric evidence can reopen even a major terrorism-and-murder conviction. The final status, however, is determined by the new 2025 judgment and the absence of an appeal.

Timeline