Bassam Hussein, professor at NTNU, was central when Palestinakomiteen arranged a tribute for the now deceased terrorist Yahya Sinwar in the centre of Trondheim at the end of January. Sinwar is regarded as the mastermind behind the terrorist attack against Israel on 7 October 2023, with over 1,200 killed. – Freedom of expression stands strong in Norway, and it is only the law that sets the boundary, says rector Tor Grande to Document when asked whether it is acceptable that employees pay tribute to terrorists.
Paid tribute to the Hamas leader Sinwar
It was on Saturday 31 January that Palestinakomiteen Trøndelag organised an outright tribute to Yahya Sinwar. They brought with them placards bearing the image of the man regarded as the mastermind behind the largest terrorist attack against Jews since the Holocaust, and Professor Bassam Hussein is depicted with a megaphone in the images from the demonstration. On Facebook they write, inter alia, that “Thank you for a strong demonstration today for Palestinian resistance. We commemorate the many Palestinian resistance heroes and martyrs. Palestinian resistance is not terror.” In other words, that the 7 October attack can be justified, and those who carried it out they regard as “resistance heroes” and “martyrs”. Around 1,200 were murdered in the terrorist attack in 2023, including 350 young people at the Nova music festival, and at least 240 were taken hostage by the terrorists. In addition to other atrocities.
Professor at the forefront of the Gaza activism
Bassam Hussein, employed as a professor at NTNU, is one of those who have stood at the forefront of the Gaza activism in Trondheim and Trøndelag. Including a tent camp at the Main Building (Hovedbygningen) at Gløshaugen. “We shouted together. We screamed in anger and despair, we cried in powerlessness What we got back was only politicians eagerly defending Israel’s right to defend itself”, the committee writes in the report from the Sinwar tribute. Implicitly that these consider that Israel does NOT have the right to defend itself against terror. And further: “What is happening in Palestine is colonisation. The Palestinian people therefore have the right to resist by all means to liberate their land from the river to the sea.” “From the river to the sea” means the complete eradication of the Jews’ only country, which is also symbolised by Palestinakomiteen’s logo both locally and centrally.
The Gaza activists in fact encountered opposition from their own ranks regarding the post they published on Facebook. Something we have referred to before. Perhaps also from other quarters, for they have now removed the image with close-ups of the Sinwar placards which they used at the demonstration, but we have a copy of the original post, and the image they have removed.
NTNU professor Bassam Hussein with megaphone left in the image, during the tribute to Sinwar and the Hamas terrorism in Trondheim 31 January 2026. Photo: Palestinakomiteen Trøndelag on Facebook.
Professor from Gaza
Bassam Hussein is said to be from Gaza. According to information from NTNU, Hussein has been employed in academic positions at NTNU since 2001. Prior to that he has, inter alia, been a doctoral research fellow (stipendiat) at NTNU. He became professor in 2023. We do not know how he ended up in Norway, whether it was as an asylum seeker or whether he was a student who never returned home. – Gaza is my compass. I choose my friends and enemies based on their view of Palestine, he told Adresseavisen in 2024. He added that people are entitled to hold a different opinion, but no one can be his friend without sharing his view of Palestine. – We are an entire nation deprived of the right to have memories, he said. Thus not regarding Norway and Norwegians as his nation. Nor was it the first time this year that he appeared to pay tribute to Hamas and their activities. “Glory to the Palestinian Resistance. The rest: fuxxxx off”. He posted under his alias Abu Marwan on Facebook 18 May 2024.
Previously Bassam Hussein had a Facebook page where he went under the name Abu Marwan. There he had what resembled a Hamas activist, or terrorist, as a profile picture, on a background where Israel is erased. He also expressed some Norwegian and Western scepticism. Screenshots from 2024. The profile now appears to be deleted.
Acceptable to pay tribute to terrorists?
It may appear somewhat particular that a professor at a Norwegian university pays tribute to terrorist attacks and those who stand behind massacres. Countless media outlets have identified Sinwar as the mastermind behind the 7 October terror. Such as Le Monde, such as The Telegraph, to mention a couple of examples. Therefore we asked the rector at NTNU whether it is acceptable to the leadership that a professor at NTNU, i.e. Bassam Hussein, pays tribute to one of the world’s most discussed terrorists? We also asked whether it is acceptable that a professor at NTNU participates in an action which has the purpose of preventing freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, which appears to be in conflict with the Constitution (Grunnloven)? Since Bassam Hussein also participated when LO and Arbeiderpartiet locally attempted to prevent the inaugural meeting for Bevar Norge on 4 February. Something Document wrote about here. We also asked whether, in that case, it would have consequences, if NTNU does not consider it acceptable to pay tribute to terrorists, and nor accepts contributing to attempts to prevent others’ freedom of assembly and freedom of expression?
Had to send a reminder for a reply
A week passed without a reply, but after a reminder there came a very brief answer to the questions. Which in its entirety read:
Freedom of expression stands strong in Norway, and it is only the law that sets the boundary. If an expression is in conflict with the law, that is a matter for the police or the courts, replied rector Tor Grande via his adviser Grete Wolden in the rector’s staff.
NTNU attempted to dismiss Eikrem twice
It was a different matter when NTNU wished to rid itself of Øyvind Eikrem, former Associate Professor (førsteamanuensis) in psychology at the Department of Social Work (Institutt for sosialt arbeid) at NTNU, who was dismissed because he may have written something racist with an anonymous Facebook profile. Something which was never proven. Eikrem in 2018 otherwise received a reprimand from the department because he had allowed himself to be interviewed professionally by Resett. NTNU attempted to dismiss Eikrem twice, not least because they thus suspected that he may have expressed something racist. But in the end it resulted in a settlement. “In the new position he increases by almost 250,000 kroner in salary and receives an annual salary of 977,600 kroner. This makes him the highest-paid postdoctoral fellow at the university. Eikrem in addition receives a severance package corresponding to one year’s salary. The termination agreement with the Associate Professor will cost the university nearly five million kroner over five years”, wrote NRK in 2021. NTNU does not appear to be equally eager to intervene if the expression concerns an outright tribute to terror and terrorists?