Arshad Mahmood, the main 38-year-old defendant, owns the house where police found three men badly beaten and being held hostage in the home's cellar.
The room could only be described as a torture chamber, according to police. The three hostages, all Moroccans, were allegedly chained to its walls while they were beaten and kicked, police said.
Prosecutors claim they were members of a Moroccan drug league based in the Netherlands. They were allegedly infringing on the territory of Oslo's infamous A-Gang, so they were kidnapped and taken to Mahmood's house at Ullensaker, in Romerike township northeast of Oslo.
Police stormed the house early last fall, acting on a tip from Dutch police. The three ill-treated men were found in the cellar, while Mahmood and several members of his family were upstairs.
Mahmood is basing his defense on self-defense, claiming he'd been frightened by death treats from the Moroccan gang. Prosecutors scoff at his defense, convinced Mahmood's hostage-taking was motivated by money. The gang rivalry is also linked to last summer's spectacular shoot-out at the fashionable Aker Brygge complex on Oslo's waterfront.
Mahmood's trial continues next week, when two of the Moroccans are due to testify.
