Bassam Hussein, a professor at NTNU, played a central role when Palestinakomiteen (the Palestine Committee) organised a tribute to the now dead terrorist Yahya Sinwar in central Trondheim at the end of January. Sinwar is regarded as the architect behind the terrorist attack against Israel on 7 October 2023, in which more than 1,200 people were killed. “Freedom of expression stands strong in Norway, and only the law sets the boundary,” Rector Tor Grande tells Document when asked whether it is acceptable for employees to pay tribute to terrorists.
Paid tribute to Hamas leader Sinwar
It was on Saturday 31 January that Palestinakomiteen Trøndelag organised what was effectively a tribute to Yahya Sinwar. They brought placards bearing the image of the man regarded as the architect behind the largest terrorist attack against Jews since the Holocaust, and Professor Bassam Hussein is pictured with a megaphone in photographs from the demonstration. On Facebook they wrote, among other things, that “Thank you for the strong demonstration today for Palestinian resistance. We remember the many Palestinian resistance heroes and martyrs. Palestinian resistance is not terrorism.”
In other words, that the 7 October attack can be justified, and those who carried it out are regarded by them as “resistance heroes” and “martyrs”.
Around 1,200 people 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 Gaza activism
Bassam Hussein, employed as a professor at NTNU, is one of those who have stood at the forefront of Gaza activism in Trondheim and Trøndelag. Including the tent encampment at the Main Building on Gløshaugen.
“We shouted together. We screamed in anger and despair, we cried in helplessness. What we got back were only politicians eagerly defending Israel’s right to defend itself,” the committee writes in its account of the Sinwar tribute. Implicitly meaning that they believe Israel does NOT have the right to defend itself against terrorism.
And further:
“What is happening in Palestine is colonisation. The Palestinian people therefore have the right to resist by all means in order 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 previously. Perhaps also from other quarters, because they have now removed the image with close-ups of the Sinwar placards that they used at the demonstration, but we have a copy of the original post and the image they removed.
NTNU professor Bassam Hussein with megaphone on the left in the image, during the tribute to Sinwar and Hamas terrorism in Trondheim on 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 held academic positions at NTNU since 2001. Before that, he was, among other things, a doctoral fellow at NTNU. He became a professor in 2023. We do not know how he ended up in Norway, whether as an asylum seeker or as 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 allowed to hold different opinions, but no one can be his friend without sharing his view on 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 praise Hamas and its activities. “Glory to the Palestinian Resistance. The rest: fuxxxx off”. He posted this under his alias Abu Marwan on Facebook on 18 May 2024.
Previously, Bassam Hussein had a Facebook page where he used the name Abu Marwan. There he had what resembled a Hamas activist, or terrorist, as his profile image, against a background in which Israel had been erased. He also expressed a certain Norwegian and Western scepticism. Screenshots from 2024. The profile now appears to have been deleted.
Acceptable to pay tribute to terrorists?
It may appear somewhat extraordinary that a professor at a Norwegian university pays tribute to terrorist attacks and those behind massacres. Countless media outlets have identified Sinwar as the architect behind the 7 October terror attack. Such as Le Monde, and The Telegraph, to mention just two examples. We therefore asked the Rector of NTNU whether it is acceptable to the leadership that a professor at NTNU, namely Bassam Hussein, pays tribute to one of the world’s most widely discussed terrorists?
We also asked whether it is acceptable for a professor at NTNU to participate in an action intended to hinder freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, something which appears to conflict with the Constitution (Grunnloven)? Since Bassam Hussein also participated when LO and the Labour Party locally attempted to prevent the inaugural meeting of Bevar Norge on 4 February. Something Document wrote about here.
We also asked whether this would in that case have consequences, if NTNU does not consider it acceptable to pay tribute to terrorists, nor accepts contributing to attempts to hinder 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 a very brief response to the questions arrived. In its entirety it read:
Freedom of expression stands strong in Norway, and only the law sets the boundary. Whether a statement is contrary to the law 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
Things were different when NTNU wished to get rid of Øyvind Eikrem, former Associate Professor of Psychology at the Department of Social Work at NTNU, who was dismissed because he may have written something racist using an anonymous Facebook profile. Something that was never proven.
In 2018, Eikrem also received a reprimand from the institute because he had agreed to a professional interview with Resett.
NTNU attempted to dismiss Eikrem twice, not least because they suspected that he may have expressed something racist. But in the end the matter concluded in a settlement.
“In the new position he receives almost NOK 250,000 more in salary and will have an annual salary of NOK 977,600. This makes him the highest-paid postdoctoral fellow at the university. Eikrem will additionally receive a severance package equivalent to one year’s salary. The settlement agreement with the associate professor will cost the university close to NOK 5 million over five years,” NRK wrote in 2021.
NTNU does not appear equally eager to intervene if the expression concerns outright praise of terror and terrorists?