Member of parliament Birgitta Jónsdóttir is accessing some high-powered legal help in her fight against the US Department of Justice. Meanwhile, US embassy officials have assured Icelandic authorities that their investigations will be “in accordance with US law”.
As is known, Birgitta – who was once a Wikileaks volunteer – is one of many people being targeted by the US Department of Justice in their investigation of anyone who has worked closely with Wikileaks. In this instance, they had asked for personal information on a list of registered users of the social networking site Twitter, and Twitter in turn informed everyone on that list of the investigation. Birgitta is among those people.
RÚV reports that Birgitta, currently in Canada, has reached out to both the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation for legal aid in her case. She told reporters that she expects to hear soon what the next step will be.
Icelandic officials have strongly condemned the investigation, with both the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Justice expressing great concern over the matter. Yesterday morning, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials met with US ambassador Luis E. Arreaga and asked that American operatives not interfere with Birgitta’s work in Iceland, including but not limited to freedom of movement and her ability to participate in political discussions on the international stage.
The embassy, for its part, released a statement to the press, wherein they said that their investigation will be conducted in accordance with American law and will be handled with the upmost fairness, in accordance with the US constitution and international law.
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