Bjørn Magnus Jacobsen Ihler (born June 30, 1991) is a Norwegian peace activist and public speaker who chairs of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism's Independent Advisory Committee.[1] He is a co-founder of the Khalifa Ihler Institute[2] and was a founding member of the project Extremely together project [3] through the Kofi Annan Foundation.[4]

Bjorn Ihler
Bjorn Ihler at the Oslo Freedom Forum 2015
Born (1991-06-30) June 30, 1991 (age 32)
NationalityNorwegian
Alma materLiverpool Institute for Performing Arts
OccupationActivist

In July 2011 Ihler survived the Utøya mass shooting.[5]

Ihler has written editorials for The Guardian, Huffington Post,[6] and other publications on the topic of terrorism,[7] and has participated in the Oslo Freedom Forum, where he spoke in 2016 about his experience of terrorism and his work to counter violent extremism.[8][9]

Ihler is a part of the 2022 Obama Foundation Leaders Europe programme.[10]

His work in countering violent extremism has led him to talk to many former members of extremist and radical groups. A BBC profile of his work has noted that "He claims the unusual and unenviable record of meeting more reformed extremists than anyone else."[11]

Ihler has said that he believes Anders Behring Breivik should be treated humanely by the Norwegian prison system.[12] He told BBC Radio 4 that "Breivik denied us all humanity and all human rights. But that does not ever make it right for us to deny him the same thing. If we do that, we follow the same logic as him I think.”[13]

References edit

  1. ^ "Bjørn Ihler named Chair of the GIFCT IAC". The Khalifa Ihler Institute. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  2. ^ "I Survived a Far Right Terror Attack in 2011. Here's What We're Still Getting Wrong About Extremism". Time. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  3. ^ Franklin-Wallis, Oliver. "Extremely Together is playing ISIS at its own game to tackle extremism". WIRED UK. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
  4. ^ O'Reilly, Lara (August 21, 2016). "A man who was almost killed by Anders Breivik explains how he keeps re-living it to prevent others from becoming radicalised". Business Insider. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  5. ^ O'Reilly, Lara. "A man who was almost killed by Anders Breivik explains how he keeps re-living it to prevent others from becoming radicalised". Business Insider. Retrieved 2020-07-23.
  6. ^ "Six Years Ago A Terrorist Took Aim At My Head, Fired His Gun, And Missed". HuffPost UK. 25 July 2017. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
  7. ^ "Bjørn Ihler". The Guardian. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  8. ^ "Bjørn Ihler". Oslo Freedom Forum. Archived from the original on March 5, 2019. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  9. ^ OsloFreedomForum (2016-05-27), BJØRN IHLER | WHAT SURVIVING A TERRORIST ATTACK TAUGHT ME | 2016, retrieved 2017-02-28
  10. ^ "Obama Foundation Leaders Europe".
  11. ^ Pickles, Matt (2017-11-08). "Terror survivor's call for open speech on extremism". BBC News. Retrieved 2017-11-08.
  12. ^ Tim Hume; Olav Mellingsater. "Breivik's rights violated, court rules". CNN. Retrieved 2017-09-18.
  13. ^ "Anders Breivik Victim Explains Why The Man Who Tried To Murder Him Deserves His Human Rights". The Huffington Post. 2016-04-21. Retrieved 2017-02-28.

External links edit