Johan Martin Welhaven
Johan Martin Welhaven is a Norwegian Police Officer and Head of Prosecutions for Innlandet Police District in Hamar. What is less well known is that he is a classic example of Norwegian inbreeding born of the Emile Schaffhausen Syndrome - where a closed, xenophobic mind is allowed to thrive in a small provincial country. After all, Norway is the land of Anders Breivik - that virulent Muslim-hater who, on 22 July 2011, murdered 77 people. Johan Martin Welhaven exhibited similar Islamophobic traits in the years preceding Breivik's day of action and made headlines in Oppland Arbeiderbald newspaper on 20 September 2011 as follows:
Chief of Police exposed online
Oppland Arbeiderblad - 20 September 2011
[An image of the front page of the JohanMartinWelhaven.com website was placed here]
LIBEL: This website is the first hit for Johan Martin Welhaven on Google. The man behind the website is English. Welhaven has been in contact with UK police to have the threat assessed.
A standalone website has been set up in the name of Johan Martin Welhaven, exposing the new Chief of Police as an Islamophobe and laying some of the responsibility for 22 July at his door.
Morten Høitomt
Published 20.09.2011 03:00 Updated 20.09.2011 17:37
Last Friday Welhaven was appointed Chief of Police for Vestoppland in southern Norway.
On the website that bears his name, Welhaven tops a list of people accused of Islamophobia and harassment of Muslims. It’s an English-language website and the domain is also registered to a man in the United Kingdom.
The home page begins: “Hatred for Islam permeates all levels of society in Norway. Mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik is the extreme manifestation of this bigotry. But the Norwegian establishment bears a heavy burden of responsibility: they openly participated in the Muslim-bashing year in, year out.”
“Manipulators”
This is followed by the names and photographs of 19 persons who the originator of the site believes “had a defining role in the Islamophobic abuse”.
The website’s owner describes these people as “Protecting and nourishing perversion; clever manipulators from this isolated corner of Europe”.
Client relationship
It is not clear on the website why the originator is focusing on Welhaven. The accusations of Islamophobia and manipulation are not elaborated on. However, Johan Martin Welhaven himself knows the reason. “The Englishman behind the website has had a client relationship with the Norwegian Bureau for the Investigation of Police Affairs, of which I am still Deputy Director. He bears a grudge against me and a number of others because of the case he was involved in,” Welhaven told Oppland Arbeiderblad. He goes on to explain that the man in question has been writing on the website for several years, but the Islamophobe slant is new. Previously, the web pages had a different content.
Contacted the police
Although he is now trying to ignore the Englishman, Welhaven admits that the matter has taken its toll.
“I’ve taken a number of steps in terms of assessing my safety. Among other things I’ve been in contact with the UK authorities, as well as speaking to people in Norway with expertise in the field,” he says. Have you reported the situation? “No. There are legal steps that can be taken, which might deal with material of this nature on the web in the short term, but it could still pop up again in a different form at a later stage. So although I perceive it as harassment, I’ve decided that I can live with it so far, in any case. I haven’t been bothered by it beyond the knowledge that the website actually exists.”
The dark side of the web
Johan Martin Welhaven is a lawyer by training, but finds it difficult to protect himself against the smear campaign. “This case, and others that are worse, are a reminder that the Internet has a seriously dark side. It is somewhere people can easily torment and harass others completely unchecked,” he states.
Politimester henges ut på nettet
SVERTES: Dette nettstedet er det første treffet på Johan Martin Welhaven i søkemotoren Google. Mannen bak nettstedet er engelsk. Welhaven har vært i kontakt med politiet i England for å få en trusselvurdering.
En egen internettside er opprettet i Johan Martin Welhavens navn, der den nye politimesteren henges ut som islamofob og gis delansvar for 22. juli.
Welhaven ble sist fredag oppnevnt til politimester i Vestoppland.
På nettstedet som bærer hans navn, topper Welhaven en liste over personer som anklages for islamhat og trakassering av muslimer. Sidene er engelskspråklige, og domenet er også registrert på en mann i England.
«Hat mot islam gjennomsyrer alle nivåer i samfunnet i Norge. Massemorderen Anders Behring Breivik er det ekstreme utslaget av denne trangsyntheten. Men landets elite har et tungt ansvar. De deltok i mobbingen av muslimer i år etter år», står det øverst på hovedsiden, oversatt til norsk av Oppland Arbeiderblad.
«Manipulatorer»
Deretter følger fotografier og navn på 19 personer som opphavsmannen mener hadde «avgjørende roller i den islamofobe tankegangen».
«Protecting and nourishing perversion; clever manipulators from this isolated corner of Europe», kommenterer nettstedets eier.
Oversatt: «De beskytter og gir næring til perversjon; smarte manipulatorer fra dette isolerte hjørnet av Europa».
Klientforhold
Det framgår ikke på nettstedet hvorfor opphavsmannen har fokus på Welhaven. Anklagene om islamofobi og manipulasjon utdypes ikke.
Johan Martin Welhaven selv vet imidlertid hvorfor.
-Engelskmannen bak nettstedet har hatt et klientforhold til Spesialenheten for politisaker, der jeg fortsatt er assisterende sjef. Han bærer nag til meg og en del andre på grunn av saken han var involvert i, sier Welhaven til Oppland Arbeiderblad.
-Han kan fortelle at mannens skriverier på nettstedet har pågått i flere år. Vinklingen på islam er ny. Tidligere har sidene hatt annet innhold.
Kontaktet politiet
Selv om han nå forsøker å overse engelskmannen, innrømmer Welhaven at saken har vært en viss belastning.
-Jeg har gjort en del grep med hensyn til å få vurdert min sikkerhet. Jeg har blant annet vært i kontakt med myndigheter i England, og også snakket med personer med kompetanse på feltet i Norge, forteller han.
Har du anmeldt forholdet?
- Nei. Man kan ta rettslige skritt, og kanskje få gjort noe med det som ligger på nettet av en slik karakter på kort sikt, men så kan det likevel poppe opp igjen i en annen form senere. Så selv om jeg opplever det som trakassering, har jeg kommet fram til at jeg kan leve med det. I hvert fall hittil. Jeg er ikke blitt plaget av dette utover vissheten om at nettsiden faktisk finnes.
Nettets skyggesider
Johan Martin Welhaven er utdannet jurist, men føler det er vanskelig å verne seg mot hetsen.
- Denne saken, og andre som er verre, er en påminnelse om at internett har alvorlige skyggesider. Der kan man lett og grenseløst kan plage og trakassere andre mennesker, konstaterer han.
My comment:
Mr Welhaven is a deceiver and a drama queen. His statement to Oppland Arbeiderblad consists of half-truths and lies. His hatred for the JohanMartinWelhaven.com website (no longer around but it was an identical reproduction of the online Norwayuncovered.com website), his covert Islamophobia, his misconduct in public office is fully exposed and explained in this book 'Norway - A Triumph in Bigotry' which is free to read on the following Pdf. Just search for the word 'Welhaven' and follow the threads. No wonder inbred Norwegian ways of thinking and far-right Press commentary on Muslims allowed the likes of Torill Sorte, Heidi Schøne, Hege Storhaug, Johan Martin Welhaven and Anders Breivik to pervert the course of justice.
The website was in fact much admired by Norwegians as the following emails show. The main problem was the bigotry and cheating displayed by Welhaven himself, who certainly brought the Norwegian Police Service into disrepute. He is a complete bigot.
Norway - A Triumph in Bigotry