Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir
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Hanna Birna Has Quit Politics
Former Minister of the Interior Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir has announced she will not be running for parliament this autumn. RÚV reports that Hanna Birna, who is currently an MP for the Independence Party, has issued a statement to the press announcing that…
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Former Interior Minister: “Should Have Resigned” Sooner
Former Minister of the Interior Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir has returned to parliament, after being away since last November, when she resigned from her Interior Minister position. In an interview with Ísland í dag, she expressed regret with how she responded to police…
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Tax Money Used To Assess Feasibility Of Suing Journalists
The Interior Ministry paid a private law firm 860,000 ISK to assess the feasibility of suing journalists writing about the Tony Omos Memo Leak Case. The Interior Ministry, in response to a question posed by MP for the Pirate Party Jón Þór…
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Former Minister Assistant Settles In Leak Case
Former Interior Minister assistant Gísli Freyr Valdórsson has reached a settlement with Evelyn Glory Joseph, who was named in the memo he leaked to the press in November 2014. Nigerian asylum seeker Tony Omos is also seeking damages in the Leak Case,…
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Predicts Hanna Birna Will Return To Parliament
Chairperson of the Independence Party Bjarni Benediktsson believes former Interior Minister Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir will return to parliament. He added further that she is free to renew her seat as the party’s vice chairperson at their next national convention. MBL reports that,…
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Tony Omos Appeals To Iceland’s Supreme Court
Asylum seeker, Tony Omos, will appeal his case against the Directorate of Immigration (UTL) with Iceland’s Supreme Court, reports Vísir. Supreme Court lawyer, Kristján Stefánsson, will argue the case on Omos’ behalf. As reported, in December of last year the Reykjavík District Court acquitted the…
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Police Chief Broke Law In Asylum Seeker Leak Case
The Data Protection Authority (DPA) has ruled that Reykjavík Police Chief Sigríður Björk Guðjónsdóttir, during her time as Suðurnes Police Chief, broke the law when she sent former Interior Minister assistant Gísli Freyr Valdórsson confidential information on Nigerian asylum seeker Tony Omos.…
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Martyrdom In Icelandic Politics
In the wake of Charlie Hebdo and the Copenhagen Shootings public discourse on the freedom of speech has risen considerably in Europe, not least in Iceland. This development is a good thing. We, as a nation, should be discussing freedom of speech – especially…
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Iceland Receives Lowest Press Freedom Rank In Its History
Iceland has dropped by 13 places down to 21st place in the Reporters Without Borders 2015 Press Freedom Index. This is the lowest score any Nordic country has been given since the press freedom index was created in 2002. All Nordic Nations…
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Hope In Dangerous Times
The year 2014 has left me asking what it really means to be Icelandic, and whether that might be something I should feel embarrassed about. Because looking back, I kinda do. For Iceland, last year was marked by a plethora of major…
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Leaks About Private Matters Are “Very Common” In Administration, Says PM
On Stöð 2’s New Year’s Eve talk show, Kryddsíld, Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson said that leaks from within ministries and public institutes are “very common in Iceland, often leaks about matters concerning people’s private matters”. The Minister stated this when asked…
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Journalists: DV Insisted On Settling
The defamation case between the former Interior Minister’s assistant, Þórey Vilhjálmsdóttir and two DV journalists, Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson and Jón Bjarki Magnússon, has been settled against the journalists wishes, reports RÚV. As reported, Þórey sought the maximum sentence of two years, as…
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Hanna Birna Has Left The Country
Recently resigned Minister of the Interior, Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir, has left the country on a holiday, reports RÚV. Ragnheiður Elín Árnadóttir, Minister of Industry and Commerce will be filling in while she’s away. Hanna Birna is still legally the Minister of the…
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Post-Leak Hangover
Infamously, on November 20th, 2013, Fréttablaðið and mbl.is published news based on confidential information collected within the Ministry of the Interior. November 21st, 2013, DV points this out, and asks: who leaked an internal ministry document about an asylum seeker as it…
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An Ornamental Resignation
Today, (now former) Minister of the Interior Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir resigned from her post, one year and one day after her ministry leaked a memo to select members of the press containing falsehoods and misinformation about Nigerian asylum seeker Tony Omos. As…
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Day Of Memo Leak, Minister’s Assistant Called Police Chief Twice
Three telephone calls took place between Gísli Freyr Valdórsson, the Minister of the Interior’s assistant at the time, and Sigríður Björk Guðjónsdóttir, then Police Chief of Suðurnes, now Police Chief of Reykjavík, the day on which the former leaked the Ministry documents…
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All Highly Unlikely
The freedom fighter Last things first: Styrmir Gunnarsson, former editor of Morgunblaðið, has published his memoirs from the Cold War. As reported, these disclose, among other things, that during most of the 1960s, Styrmir provided the Independence Party’s Chair and Minister of…
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Most Icelanders Want Interior Minister To Resign
A new poll shows considerable opposition to Minister of the Interior Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir staying in power – even from members of her own party. Vísir reports that, according to a new poll from Stöð 2 and Fréttablaðið, 50% said they believe…
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Interior Ministry Blocks Media Access To Staff
The Ministry of the Interior has ordained that its staff cannot converse with reporters and journalists without the Ministry’s public relation manager’s explicit permission. The P.R. manager is currently on vacation. The media will thus not be able to reach the Ministry’s…
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Minister Hurried Police Interrogation On Her Own Initiative
Interviewed by RÚV’s Kastljós on Wednesday, Interior Minister Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir repudiated her earlier statements, when she claimed that her former assistant, Gísli Freyr, had requested her to intervene, when she asked the Police to hurry his interrogation, during the investigation that…
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Interior Minister’s Assistant Guilty: Eight Months On Probation
Today, Wednesday, saw Gísli Freyr Valdórsson, the Interior Minister’s now former assistant, sentenced to eight months in prison, by the Reykjavík district court, for leaking a Ministry document, containing sensitive personal information and unsubstantiated slander about one Tony Omos, at the time…
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Interior Minister Assistant Confesses Leaking Tony Omos Memo
Interior Minister assistant Gísli Freyr Valdórsson has confessed to leaking the memo on Tony Omos to select members of the media, and has been subsequently fired. RÚV reports that, according to a statement from Minister of the Interior Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir, Gísli…
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IPI Reprimands Iceland For Archaic Defamation Law
In response to the charges that the Interior Minister’s assistant, Þórey Vilhjálmsdóttir, has pressed against journalists Jón Bjarki Magnússon and Jóhann Páll Jóhannsson, the International Press Institute (IPI) has urged the Icelandic government to prioritize reform of defamation law. The institute’s statement,…