Björn Bjarnason

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Björn Bjarnason Minister of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs

Björn Bjarnason (born 14 November 1944) is the Minister of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs of Iceland, and has been since May 23, 2003. His father was Bjarni Benediktsson, Icelandic Prime Minister, Minister of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs and Mayor of the City of Reykjavík.

He is married to Rut Ingólfsdóttir and has two children.

Matriculating from Reykjavík Junior College in 1964 and graduating in Law (cand. jur.) from the University of Iceland in 1971, Björn was active in student politics and after graduation worked as a publishing director of Almenna bókafélagið from 1971-1974. As foreign news editor he worked at daily Vísir in 1974, as Deputy Secretary General in the Prime Minister's office from 1974-1975.

Björn worked in the Prime Minister's Office from 1975-1979, as a journalist on Icelandic daily Morgunblaðið from 1979-1984 and as vice editor of Morgunblaðið from 1984-1991. Björn attended the Bilderberg Group conference in 1988, 1991, 1993 and 1995 [1].

Björn was elected to Iceland's representative parliament Alþingi in 1991 for the Independence Party, for the constituency of Reykjavík. On April 23, 1995 he became Minister for Education of Iceland, serving until 2002, and since 2003 as Minister for Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs.

In 2002, he led the unsuccessful attempt of the Independence Party to win elections to Reykjavík city council.

Björn has long been interested in matters of security and defense, debating controversially that Iceland could form its own standing military, which it hasn't had since 1869.