Ubaydullah Hussain, the controversial leader of an extremist Islamic group in Norway, lost his job as a messenger for the commercial delivery arm of the Norwegian postal service Posten Norge after complaints from customers. Hussain has earlier been criticized for collecting unemployment benefits from state welfare agency NAV.
News bureau NTB reported that customers who recognized Hussain when he delivered packages to them complained that it was frightening when he turned up at their doorstep. Hussain, who’s been charged in court for allegedly making threats, has also attracted public attention for leading demonstrations and expressing support for sharia law, terrorists and, most recently, the executions carried out by the extremist group known alternately as ISIL, ISIS and IS in Syria and Iraq.
Posten Norge’s complaining customers “thought it was uncomfortable, difficult and frightening” to receive packages from Hussain, spokeswoman Hilde Ebeltoft-Skaugrud told NTB.
She said that Hussain was hired earlier this year for a temporary summer job delivering packages for Posten Norge’s subsidiary called Bring. The 29-year-old Hussain wore a Bring uniform, but many customers recognized him and later contacted Bring and Posten Norge to express their concerns.
“We have chosen to listen to the customers,” Ebeltoft-Skaugrud said, adding that Hussain’s employment was terminated in mid-August. He had started working in June and was hired after Bring claimed to have checked his references. NTB reported that it was Posten Norge that took the initiative to terminate his employment.
Hussain’s defense attorney in the court cases against him, John Christian Elden, told NTB that Hussain doesn’t hold a grudge against Bring and didn’t want to comment further. Elden, however, referred to earlier complaints that Hussain had been collecting unemployment benefits and added that “it’s difficult to be asked to take a job when he’s not allowed to work because good Norwegians don’t like him.”
Hussain also was the target of repeated verbal assaults during Monday’s major demonstration against extremism, with many Muslims claiming Hussain has exploited and “kidnapped” Islam and in no way represents their views.
newsinenglish.no/Nina Berglund
