A furore over a paedophile’s links to Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson has triggered the collapse of Iceland’s ruling coalition.
The Bright Future party announced it was withdrawing from the three-party coalition after nine months in office.
It blamed a “serious breach of trust within the government”.
Earlier it emerged that the prime minister’s father had written a letter recommending a convicted paedophile have his “honour restored”.
This old Icelandic system permits convicts to have certain civil rights restored – enabling them to run for public office, qualify for certain government jobs or serve as an attorney or solicitor, for example – if three letters of recommendation from persons of good character are provided.
But Icelanders have been horrified by the secret backing for Hjalti Sigurjón Hauksson – convicted in 2004 of raping his stepdaughter almost every day for 12 years from when she was five. He served a five-and-a-half-year jail term.
The Reykjavik Grapevine news site quotes the survivor of Hauksson’s abuse as saying it was “surreal” that he should receive restored honour.
The government has also been accused of an attempted cover-up after it refused to disclose who had written the letter of recommendation.
It only emerged on Thursday that it was Benedikt Sveinsson, Prime Minister Benediktsson’s father, but the prime minister is said to have been informed about his involvement in July.
In a statement, Mr Sveinsson apologised for providing the recommendation for Hauksson, an old friend of his.
Iceland’s justice minister has said she is preparing a bill to reform the restored honour system in response to the furore.
Icelandic journalist Hjortur Gudmundsson says the coalition’s position was already fragile, as it had a majority of only one parliamentary seat before Bright Future withdrew its support.
Calls are growing for a general election as there are few possible options for an alternative coalition to take power, he says.
“Since the economic crash of 2008 there has been a lot of suspicion towards politicians and a huge onus on honesty,” Gudmundsson says.
“This is not the first time controversy has been linked to the PM – he was implicated in the Panama Papers [which brought down the previous government, in which he was finance minister]. There isn’t much public patience for this kind of thing.”
In his statement of apology, Mr Sveinsson tried to explain his actions, saying that Hauksson had brought him an already drafted letter which he signed.
“I have never considered the restored honour as anything except a legal procedure making it possible for convicted criminals to regain some civil rights,” Mr Sveinsson said.
“I did not think of it as something that would justify Hjalti’s position towards his victim. I told Hjalti to face his action and to repent.”
“What was supposed to be a small gesture of good will towards a convicted criminal has instead turned into a continuation of the tragedy for the victim. For this I again apologise.”
That’s pretty ironic.
The pedophiles over at the BBC are calling the Icelanders a bunch of pedophiles.
Schlomo is having a field day.
Schlomo the pedophile?
Looks like the Vikings turned into the Vi-Queens! Hahaha!
Are you a New Orleans Saints fan? Because back in 2009, a libertarian radio guy Mike Church, from Cajun country, called the Minnesota Vikings team “Vi-Queens”…
No DL, just the first thing that came to mind as I envision some hairy fairy with a horn(y) helmet on, looking at some youngin, and the speech bubble next to his character says, you haf pretty mouth little boy.
“It blamed a “serious breach of trust within the government”.
I’d blame the stinking jews.
Tit for tat from the banksters.
Didn’t Iceland kick out the bankster fraudsters a few years ago after the 2008 crash? I guess this is what happens when you cross the Rothschilds…You suddenly get labeled a pedophile (just ask the Who’s Pete Townsend…)
🙂