Something is wrong with human rights in Norway
The child protection agency in Norway, barnevernet, recently made infamous by the movie “Fjord” that won the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival, is putting serial sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to shame.
The death of teenage girl Shada Jehua Al-Bargouti, and the imprisonment and forced psychiatric treatment of Lillian Gran, has again put the child protection agency in Norway – barnevernet – in the crosshairs.
The death of Shada
In 2019, 16-year-old girl Shada Al-Bargouti was found dead at Stendi, a privately run child welfare institution in Stavanger.
Shada was a Norwegian citizen of Palestinian origin, taken from her family by child welfare authorities in 2012, at the age of nine. During seven years, Shada was raped repeatedly and tried to run home several times. She never made it.
“Norway’s Palestinian Ambassador, Marie-Antoinette Sedin, stated in an interview published in an Arabic-language news channel that she had been informed by Norwegian authorities that Shada had been murdered”, says human rights activist Rune Fardal. “No police investigation was done. Instead her parents was put in prison.”
Prime minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre, had shares in Stendi AS where Shada died. Documents obtained by Dr. Rodgeir Vinsrygg show that police contacted senior health authorities following Shada’s death on how to keep the story out of the media.
Later the authorities stated Shada died by suicide.
The Lillian Gran Case
After separating from the children’s father in 2014, doctor and former politician Lillian Gran was granted primary care of their two children. In December 2020 the children were brought to formal police interviews in January 2021 on suspicion of abuse by their father.
“Lillian discovered the truth two years later, when she gained partial access to the interview transcripts. Her children had been explicit about abuse. The child welfare authority had concealed it”, says Linn Rine, spokesperson for the human rights organization Rettssikkerhet for alle! “Løten kommune then took the children from their mother and placed them by force with the father.
“What do children suffering from abuse do? They flee. The children of Lillian Gran fled back to their mother. For trying to save her children, Lillian was put in prison for kidnapping. She is now in forced psychiatric treatment – despite being confirmed sane.
