Brynjar Meling
Brynjar Nielsen Meling (born 29 May 1967) is a Norwegian lawyer.
Personal life
Meling is married and have four children. He usually votes for the
Career
He became famous overnight after being appointed as the
Some of his other more famous cases include:
- ISBN 0-316-73450-0) which she wrote after staying with his family in Kabulfor several months.
- Osman Omar Osman, a Kurd with dual Norwegian and Iraqicitizenship. He is accused of killing his Norwegian wife while on vacation in Iraq, and was sentenced to death by hanging on March 10, 2005 by a local Iraqi court. The sentence was however annulled due to "wrongful application of the law", and a new trial before the same court was scheduled for August 10, 2005. After several delays the trial was finally held, and on October 10, 2005 he was again sentenced to death. According to a spokesman for the Norwegian Department of Foreign Affairs, the judge in the case has assured them that the sentence will most likely be converted to life imprisonment by a higher court, and that the death sentence would not be carried out in any case. Meling has been Osman's appointed lawyer in Norway, however he has not been directly involved in the case other than consulting with Osman's Iraqi lawyer and petitioning the Norwegian and Iraqi governments to have the case transferred to a Norwegian court since the victim and accused were both Norwegian citizens. However, since Osman was also an Iraqi citizen this was denied.
- Abdul Rauf Mohammad, former Taliban government minister who was expelled from Norway due to a domestic violence case and his involvement in Islamist circles and possibly terror-related activities.[3]
Controversy
Meling's choice of clients has made him an unpopular man in many circles. Meling has received a steady stream of hate mail, ranging from neatly hand-written letters filled with Bible quotes that wish him a happy journey to hell[2] to old ladies walking up to him to tell him he ought to be ashamed.[1]
In 2004 a dying man who had been a longtime supporter of the Salvation Army contacted the local Salvation Army branch in
After presenting a bill for 1,000 hours (for a total amount of 956,000 NOK / 116,000 Euro) to the government for his public defence of mullah Krekar, he has also been accused of being greedy. According to Norwegian law all asylum seekers are entitled to a certain number of hours of lawyer assistance, but the government felt that his claim was excessive and refused to pay for more than 80 hours. Meling insists all the billed hours were necessary to provide a fair trial for his client, considering the vast amount of evidence presented by various intelligence agencies (some of which had been thrown out of court upon closer examination), and the fact that the case had become highly political.[4]
References
- ^ a b c d Bjerkestrand, Frode (10 January 2004). "Mulla Meling". Bergens Tidende. Archived from the original on 23 February 2013.
- ^ a b c "Bergenser trakk gave". Bergensavisen. 10 March 2004.
- ^ "Tidligere Taliban-minister vil tilbake til Norge". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). 25 February 2015.
- ^ "Meling får ikke betalt". Stavangeravisen. 10 May 2004. Archived from the original on 11 May 2004.
