(LifeSiteNews) — A man in Norway was recently held in a psychiatric unit against his will for nine days, allegedly over publishing Facebook posts critical of lockdowns and the so-called COVID “vaccines.”
On July 19, Trond Harald Håland was confronted at his home in Stavanger, Norway, by two police officers along with two “uniformed health workers.”
In a statement to LifeSiteNews, the 49-year-old former occupational therapist said he was certain his detention arose from his questioning – on Facebook – the “absurd” government narrative over the rate of excess deaths.
“The contradictions between the statistics and the official story showed there is something very wrong going on,” Håland told LifeSiteNews.
There is no provision in Norwegian law for imprisonment based on social media posting. Håland was not arrested but says he was informed by the police that he was to be immediately detained because of a psychiatric assessment arising from his online activity.
According to Håland and his lawyer, Barbro Paulsen, he was removed to a mental health institution under a process known in Norway as “compulsory commitment.” This deprivation of liberty is based in principle on a professional medical assessment that does not require a court verdict.
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His case was taken up by the Norwegian Democrats, whose July 25 letter to the Norwegian Ministry of Health claimed that the reason for his detention exemplified a nation in which “freedom of expression and the democratic process have been set aside under COVID.”
The letter, published whilst Håland was on his sixth day of detention, stated that he “has been an active critic of the Norwegian healthcare system in connection with vaccines, lockdown, and COVID-19.”
Empowering Big Pharma
LifeSiteNews has spoken extensively to both Håland and his lawyer, Barbro Paulsen, whose legal challenge to Håland’s incarceration saw him released after nine days. Had the appeal not been successful he would be at risk of permanent compulsory mental health care. They say attempts were made to medicate him whilst in the unit and to suggest legal measures to define him as unfit to make decisions about his own treatment.
Paulsen told LifeSiteNews that people in Norway are often forced to take drugs against their will.
“There is a massive use of force in this country, and Big Pharma has gained a strong position where so many people are forcibly medicated,” she said.
Håland told LifeSiteNews that his detention by the Norwegian authorities was prompted by an anonymous complaint about his posts on Facebook – a fact revealed by a legal appeal launched against his confinement and confirmed by his lawyer.
Norwegian law allows for an appeal for all such patients removed against their will, a process which led Håland to instruct Paulsen as his legal representative.
Paulsen launched the appeal to the Norwegian Control Commission, the health body with adjudication over the matter of “compulsory commitment.” Paulsen found in that hearing that the legal conditions for Håland’s detention against his will were not satisfied.
Under Norwegian law any “compulsory commitment” requires the independent authorization of two specialist doctors or clinical psychologists. Through Paulsen’s appeal, it was discovered that Håland’s case was not agreed to in this way. This was sufficient to show Håland’s detention was unlawful, the lawyer said.
What is more, Paulsen’s appeal discovered that it was not only the content of his online posts but their alleged frequency which were claimed in the hearing to suggest he was manic.
Håland says his posts were described in the hearing as “conspiratorial and not reality oriented” by a medical official who later admitted to not having read them.
The appeal, heard by two physicians, did not uphold this view of Håland’s posting history, leaving no medical justification for his committal to a mental institution.
Paulsen also discovered that neither of the two officials responsible for authorizing Håland’s detention had read his online posts – a fact which Håland and Paulsen agree left the grounds for his detention “baseless.”
“The whole prognosis was guesswork, saying I developed mania over two weeks on no basis,” Håland told LifeSiteNews.
“The only reason for this was [that] the frequency of my posts was ‘manic.’ There was no mania. This is a very strange conclusion.”
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A consistent critic of lockdown policy and the so-called COVID “vaccines” since 2020, Håland’s recent posts concerned the “absurdities” of public health policy in Norway – a conclusion drawn by Håland from the examination of data in the public domain.
Aside from this, he has posted material critical of the World Economic Forum’s Klaus Schwab and shown opinions skeptical of the mainstream climate change narrative.
Håland displayed no sign of mental instability as he related his ordeal in a telephone interview with LifeSiteNews.
A political agenda?
It is alleged by one Norwegian news outlet that Håland’s extraordinary treatment is infected by a political agenda. Incredibly, the appeal which led to Håland’s release was originally due to be heard by Norway’s former Health and Care Minister, who was one of the most outspoken champions of a COVID regimen which Håland describes as rife with “contradictions” and “impossible statistics.”
Former Norwegian Health Minister Bent Høie is now the County Governor of Rogaland, where Håland resides, and has the legal power to decide the fate of those detained against their will.
Norwegian news outlet Steigan describes Høie as “one of the main people responsible for coronavirus policy, the lockdown scandal, the school closures, and the massive forced vaccine campaign in Norway.”
Håland’s lawyer Paulsen moved to have another County Governor hear the appeal, owing to this obvious conflict of interest. Despite a 10 percent success rate in these appeals, Håland was released on July 28 after nine days of detention.
‘I lost my church. But I haven’t lost God’
Håland’s is free, but his case continues. Together with his lawyer he is launching an appeal to fund a class action against the Norwegian government.
He sees his own predicament as indicative not only of a spurious lockdown and “vaccine” regime, but of “complete system failure.”
“It’s a total system failure of society – politics, media, the law, medicine – it’s not just journalism, academia has collapsed totally.”
A Protestant, he counts his own church amongst this “total collapse” of institutional integrity.
“The church promoted the vaccine and are part of the system failure. I lost my church. But I haven’t lost God,” he said, before moving to optimistically describe his example as one which can be used for the good of all.
“There is positive growth in the awareness of what is happening. Even among the ‘unawake.’ This is a failing system – maybe it opens their eyes that the system is failing in all areas.”