Julian Assange
Iceland may become a haven for independent journalists, should a new proposal inspired by whistle-blowing website Wikileaks becomes law there.
The Icelandic Modern Media Initiative (IMMI), calls on the country’s government to adopt laws protecting journalists and their sources. It is culling good practices from around the world and incorporating them into a single body of law.
“We’ve found good laws in different countries but no country that has all of these laws put together,” says Wikileaks’ editor, Julian Assange.
The proposals also include steps to end so-called “libel tourism”, the practice of pursuing libel actions in the most favorable legal jurisdiction irrespective of where the parties are based.
The proposals will be filed with Iceland’s parliament, the Althingi, on 16 February. If successful, it will require the Icelandic government to consider introducing legislation.
Birgitta Jonsdottir
One of the proposal’s supporters, Birgitta Jonsdottir of The Movement, a political party with 3 MPs in the Icelandic parliament, told the BBC that she was confident the measure would become law.
“From what I have experienced from discussions with MPs from all the different parties, there is incredible good will,” she said.
But the troubles of the financial sector may lead some Icelanders to be sceptical of efforts to transform their country and Ms Jonsdottir is aware of the need not to make exaggerated claims,
“We don’t want to be the Vikings of transparency in the way the bankers presented themselves,” she said.
But Ms Jonsdottir believes that making a strong statement in favour of freedom of expression could be a way for Iceland to create a positive new identity.
“There are still very many Icelanders who feel ashamed. I think it is part of the self-recovery we have to go through,” she said.
The idea of a purely “free speech” country could hit some snags though, as Iceland has so-called “Hate Crimes ” laws. Assange says the idea is to “try and reform Iceland’s media law to be a very attractive jurisdiction for investigative journalists”.
Section 233 of the Icelandic Penal Code states “Anyone who in a ridiculing, slanderous, insulting, threatening or any other manner publicly assaults a person or a group of people on the basis of their nationality, skin colour, race, religion or sexual orientation, shall be fined or jailed for up to 2 years.” (The word “assault” in this context does not refer to physical violence, only to expressions of hatred.)
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