This week, in Norway, there was a tremendous victory for Free Speech – Bruce Bawer and Peder Jensen, Legal Project clients*, were REMOVED by the Norwegian court from the Anders Breivik trial as defense witnesses.
Last summer, Breivik committed a mass murder that left 77 people dead in Norway. He denies criminal guilt, saying the victims, most of them teenagers, had betrayed their country by embracing Muslim immigration to Norway. In his manifesto, Breivik cited many scholars, including Bawer and Jensen, opposed to Islam, Islamism (i.e., racial Islam), and/or multiculturalism.
The Norwegian court had allowed Breivik to call these two as witnesses as part of his “defense that his atrocities were necessary to protect his society from multiculturalism, socialism and an Islamic takeover…(even though) none of this “testimony” has any real bearing on the question of Breivik’s guilt or innocence.” This defense was initially approved by the court in order “exploit his atrocities, and the horror they have inspired, to advance their own political agendas” which “seek to blame Breivik’s atrocities on conservative politicians and bloggers.”
Supporters of the Islamist agenda surely would have used these “legal connections” as a catalyst to limit Western speech against Europe’s Islamist threat. “Far-right bloggers” were being suggested in the press as having a degree of moral responsibility for “agitating online against Muslims.” Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu had publicly declared that Breivik’s atrocity “was a result of the rise of the extreme right in Europe and its easy mobility in political circles...the OIC had warned several times against of what might be called institutionalization of the phenomenon of Islamophobia through the involvement of the European extreme right in government institutions and political action.” Norwegian Green Party member Oeyvind Stroemmen stated “to me it’s obvious that even if he is insane there is definitely a political element.”
In the end, through the efforts of lawyers funded by the MEF-The Legal Project, Messrs Bawer and Jensen were removed from Breivik’s witness list, which was The Legal Project’s goal from the outset. Both Mr. Bawer and Mr. Jensen were very relieved that the whole Breivik trial is now behind them, and they can continue to write about Islam related topics without any legal pressure.
The Legal Project, as an activity of the Middle East Forum, works to protect the universal right in the West to freely discuss Islam, radical Islam, terrorism, and terrorist funding. Our international client list includes journalists, bloggers, authors and politicians.
*The Legal Project does not directly represent defendants in a trial. Instead, it searches for outside legal assistance, and provides financial assistance, if either is needed.
