Tore Tvedt posted the offending material to his web site, which was hosted on a US-based server. In the US, such content is legal, but a district court near Oslo rejected Tvedt’s argument that the case fell outside Norway’s jurisdiction.
According to Associated Press, he received a sentence of 75 days in prison, with 45 days suspended, and two years probation, having been found guilty on five of six counts of breaching the country’s anti-racism laws.
Since 1970 it has been a criminal offence in Norway to expose a person to hatred or lack of respect on the grounds of their colour of skin or ethnicity – although the law has rarely been enforced and Tvedt is the first person to be convicted under the country’s law in connection with internet activities.