This article is more than 1 year old

Wikileaks reveals Icelandic FBI shenanigans

As Assange movie production ramps up, Wikileaks leaks some more dirt

Whatever WikiLeaks eventually thinks of the movie being made about Julian Assange, it’s proving expert in the business of buzz-generation.

After shooting began in Reykjavik at the end of January (Iceland Review), the organisation has revealed - completely co-incidentally, of course - an incident in August 2011 in which FBI agents were apparently booted from the Nordic country for arriving without asking first.

The incident was described by WikiLeaks spokesperson Kristin Hrafnsson in an interview with national broadcaster RUV (Google translation here).

Iceland’s interior minister Ögmundur Jónasson has confirmed the incident, saying last Friday (February 1) that the US hadn’t notified the country that the FBI agents were on the way. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Jónasson told the Associated Press he “was not aware they were coming to Iceland”.

“When I learned about it, I demanded that Icelandic police cease all cooperation and made it clear that people interviewed or interrogated in Iceland should be interrogated by Icelandic police.”

Neither the ministry nor the FBI have confirmed Hrafnsson’s specific allegation, that the feds were in the country for a WikiLeaks investigation, but most outlets have made the connection based on Iceland’s support for the whistle-blower organisation.

Hrafnsson says Iceland has also formally complained to the US government about the incident. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like