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Bobby Fischer Fischer Freedom Watch - Part One
(3/7/2005) From the Icelandic delegation in Tokyo, Japan:
Bobby's lawyer, Masako Suzuki, received this afternoon, ( late evening here) his passport which has been kept in the Icelandic Embassy here for more than a week. She will, early to-morrow morning, notify the Directory of Immigration/Ministry of Justice and the Director of Detention Center "Tourist Camp Lock-Up" where the World Champion has been imprisoned for almost eight months because of an allegedly invalid US passport, and demand for his immediate release and free travel permission.
His old friend Sæmi visited Bobby today and tears fell when they met again, albeit via a glass window, after 33 years.
By the way I spoke to Bobby this afternoon before these happy new broke out and he would like to send his happy birthday wishes to Bent Larsen and congratulate him on his 70 birthday. He spoke very highly of Larsen. by Einar S. Einarsson
(3/9/2005) BOBBY WILL BE RELEASED IF Masako Suzuki, Bobby Fischer's lawyer, received today a formal negative answer from the Immigration Office of Japan's Ministry of Justice, that RJF´s request for voluntary departure on the bases of his new Icelandic Alien Passport was declined. However she learned through unofficial means that Bobby would be released right away if he would be granted an Icelandic citizenship. SAEMI "ROCK" SANG
(3/17) Open
Letter: Written to the US Ambassador to Iceland, on behalf of the the
RJF Committee - Iceland. "For three months you have delayed in
providing an answer to the simple question of who, other than Bobby Fischer,
has been indicted for violating the so-called economic sanctions against the
countries formerly known as Yugoslavia...former President Bill Clinton has
been unable to do otherwise than to admit your government’s violation of
those same sanctions. But as you know, the violations of the United
States government did not involve playing chess. The US government’s
violations involved paving the way for arms shipments to the very
battlefields of the bloody war being fought in that country..."
Read the Complete
Letter. (3/19) A LETTER OF PROTEST to the Japanese Authorities Reykjavík, 15th of March 2005 HE Ms Fumiko Saiga,
Japanese Ambassador to Iceland
Mr. Fischer is now being held prisoner in Japan for more than 9 months on no grounds whatsoever, despite the fact that he has an valid Icelandic passport, a flight ticket booked out of Japan and an Icelandic residency. His continued detention in Japan constitutes a gross violation of human rights. As we protest the stongest possible terms against your handling of this matter, we request an immediate release of Mr. Robert James Fischer. Respectfully, On
behalf of The RJF Committee – Iceland, (3/19) MATING MOVE: Iceland has just got its 10th GM, who is Robert James Fischer. The Icelandic Parliament Committee, which deals with citizenships, decided unanimously to recommend that RJF will be granted an Icelandic citizenship. It is expected that a special bill/proposal concerning a speedy citizenship for Mr. Fischer will be passed by Althingi already on Monday March 21st. This means that Bobby Fischer will be released from detention in Japan and can travel to Iceland and freely around the world. A new delegation will travel to Japan next week to escort him to Iceland.
(3/21) BOBBY FISCHER WINS ICELANDIC CITIZENSHIP!
The Icelandic parliament, the Althingi, has granted World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer full citizenship as an Icelander. The Althingi, which is the world's oldest existing democratic parliament, has made history by standing up to the earth's sole superpower and demonstrating that it can no longer bully individuals or nations around. Despite a stern U.S. diplomatic warning, the parliament of Iceland at 5:06 PM on Monday local time voted by 40 in favor to 0 opposed, with only 2 abstentions, to make Bobby Fischer a full citizen. Read the text of the Bill here. The name of this tiny North Atlantic island has become synonymous with human freedom!
Despite the danger of U.S. retaliation, the brave legislators proved their Viking roots by setting a world record of 12 minutes to complete the three parliamentary readings of the citizenship bill for persecuted U.S. national hero Bobby Fischer! With Icelandic citizenship, Bobby Fischer has now met the conditions explicitly set last week by Japanese Immigration Bureau chief Masaharu Miura and Justice Minister Chieko Nohno, who both stated that he will be free to end almost nine months in detention in Japan and to leave for freedom in Iceland. The United States had tried to seize Bobby Fischer by secretly and illegally claiming that his U.S. passport had been revoked in an effort to have him deported to the United States. They had accused him of the "crime" of playing chess in Yugoslavia in 1992 without U.S. government permission. Bobby Fischer had rightly spat on the U.S. presidential dictate and has spent the last 13 years as a so-called "fugitive" from U.S. INJUSTICE, not justice. He has traveled the world under his own name, freely, never hiding and always ready to defend his freedom against U.S. dictates. As he did when he won the world chess championship in 1972, Bobby has shown that individual freedom will always win.
* * * The Committee to Free Bobby Fischer is holding two URGENT news conferences on Tuesday in Tokyo. At 11:30 AM there will be conference at the Japanese Ministry of Justice. This conference will be held in Japanese and no cameras or video equipment are allowed into the ministry building. This conference will be to review the ministry's response to the demand for immediate release that the Committee will be submitting to the Justice Minister as soon as the ministry opens in the morning. At 2 PM on TUESDAY, March 22, 2005, the Committee to Free Bobby Fischer will hold its main news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan at the Yurakucho Denki Building at Hibiya/Yurakucho Station in central Tokyo. This conference is open to all and full video and camera coverage is allowed. IF BOBBY FISCHER IS FREE BY THEN, HE WILL CONDUCT THE NEWS CONFERENCE HIMSELF.
If Bobby has not yet been released, the news conference will be conducted by
Free Bobby Fischer Committee Chairman John Bosnitch and Bobby Fischer's lead
lawyer Ms. Masako Suzuki. John Bosnitch has spelled out the
committee's immediate objective as, "getting Bobby Fischer onto a plane to
freedom as soon as humanly possible."
The Free Bobby Fischer Committee extends its deepest congratulations and most sincere thanks to the Icelandic Robert James Fischer Committee, the Icelandic Althingi and the courageous people of Iceland. "We dream of a world brave enough to follow your example!"
RJF's new Icelandic passport is now with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. David Oddsson. It will either been sent with courier in a diplomatic mail to the Icelandic Embassy in Tokyo or given to Mr. Saemundur Palsson, who will lead a new delegation and camera crew from Iceland traveling to Japan tomorrow, with the purpose to escort Bobby Fischer to his new home land. At the right, above, are two members of the Icelandic RJF Committee who have been instrumental in seeking Bobby's freedom - Einar S. Einarsson and Bobby's former bodyguard and friend, Sæmi Pálsson - holding RJF´s Icelandic Citizenship Letter in front of the old “Detention Center” jailhouse in downtown Reykjavík. (3/24) MISSION COMPLETED: The seven active members of the Icelandic RJF Committee received the following good news message, with great thrill and contentment, from Bobby Fischer's lawyer Masako Suzuki early Thursday morning, March 24:
Chess legend Bobby Fischer was freed Thursday after 253 long days in a Japanese jail and immediately headed in a black Icelandic Embassy limousine to Narita airport to board an SAS flight bound for Copenhagen, where Saemundur Palsson, his trusty friend will greet him. There a private jet is waiting to bring him to his new home, Iceland. Bobby's flight is expected to land at Reykjavik's Airport at 8.15 pm were he and his Japanese partner Miyoko Watai will be welcomed by the RJF Committee members and GM Fridrik Olafsson, honorary President of FIDE. By landing at Reykjavik Airport Bobby avoids to have to set foot on the NATO and US Army based Keflavik International Airport.
Discussing the speedy proceeding in the Bobby Fischer Saga over a cup of coffee yesterday. A celebration party will be organized next week. From left: I.Asmundsson, E.S. Einarsson; Saemi Palsson, M. Skulason End of story: Bobby Fischer and Miyoko Watai, his fiancé, arrived finally to Reykjavik, Iceland, his new home country, at 11.05 pm after some 24 hours travel from Japan. They came on a private jet on the last leg from Kristianstad, Sweden after the aircraft had been turned away from the Kastrup Copenhagen airport because of fog. There war lot of media people present and several TV stations from overseas at the landing place close Airport hotel Loftleidir. The weather was warm and a little rain in the dark. But to everybody's regret Channel 2 Television, which sponsored the jet plain took over the situation (stole the stage) and rushed Bobby past the reception committee of his supporters group, into a jeep, and drove him away. Still it was possible to greet Miyoko, but 15 minutes later Bobby and his company returned to the Loftleidir hotel, when most of the other media was away. They will be staying for the night in the same suite as he had in 1972. Bobby was tired but not exhausted and spent some time with his supporters from the RJF committee, which worked so hard to free him from injustice in Japan. He was welcomed as the king of chess and Miyoko as his queen. The mission of the RFJ committee is therefore completed with full success and Robert James Fischer is now free to begin a new chapter of his live as a responsible Icelandic citizen. Regards, Einar S. Einarsson
MORGUNBLADID, Reykjavik - Iceland Editorial Robert James Fischer returned to Iceland on Maundy Thursday after an absence of 33 years. For nine months he had been in detention in Japan, threatened with extradition to the United States for having violated an international trade embargo against erstwhile Yugoslavia when he played chess there in 1992. But Mr. Fischer has also occasioned angry reactions from Americans by repeatedly denouncing Jews and by exulting in a radio interview over the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. The most choleric response to Bobby Fischer’s arrival in Iceland appeared yesterday in the American newspaper The Washington Post, under the headline “Shame of Iceland.” The paper states that the day Althingi [the Icelandic parliament] agreed to grant Mr. Fischer Icelandic citizenship was “a sad day for Iceland, which actively associated itself with a man who has long since left decency behind.” It goes on to say, “Fischer, clearly deeply unbalanced, should perhaps be considered a subject of pity, rather than hatred. But he should certainly not be a subject of legislative honor – not unless his new countrymen want their nation shamed every time this chessman opens his mouth.” Bobby Fischer has not come to Iceland because of his opinions. They are his, and he is responsible for his words just as any other Icelander is. When Mr. Fischer became World Champion, Americans were eager to cloak themselves in this eccentric chess genius’ victory over the Soviet chess dynasty, but since 1992 their intransigence toward him has been unalloyed. Early this winter, Mr. Fischer wrote to the authorities in this country and requested asylum in Iceland. Minister of Foreign Affairs Davíd Oddsson demonstrated both valor and philanthropy when he decided to honor that request. Icelanders have formed a group of Bobby Fischer supporters who have worked tirelessly to get him released, and it is thanks to this group and the Minister for Foreign Affairs that Mr. Fischer is here. The original intent was not to grant Mr. Fischer Icelandic citizenship, but when it became clear that the Japanese would not release him, the decision was made to take this step. Althingi did not bring Iceland to shame with this decision; instead, it saved the United States the shame of having imprisoned Robert James Fischer for the sole crime of not having behaved in harmony with American foreign policy.
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During
Miyoko´s, Bobby´s financee and Saemi´s, his old buddy and bodyguard, visit
to him at the Japanese Detention Center (Tourist Camp Lock-up) today on
Bobby´s 62nd birthday, they were refused permission to give him a bucket of
roses they had brought along as his birthday gift. The guards were not
even willing to receive it and give it to him after their visit later, so
they had to take it back. Therefore Saemi decided instead to sing the
happy birthday song as a birthday present. He sang it loud and clearly
through the microphone and loudspeakers system of the visiting chamber which
is divided by a glass pane. "Happy birthday dear Bobby, happy birthday
to you" , echoed throughout the detention center building as the acoustics
were excellent, a Japanese hi-fi system. Bobby was extremely delighted
and was in good mood.
As
we refer to our letter to your Embassy of the 15th of December 2004 on the
fate of Mr. Robert James Fischer, we now feel ourselves obliged to
express our deepest dismay and sorrow of The Japanese Authorities grotesque
violation of his human rights and of international law. Referring to the
conversation we had with Mr. Abe that day, where your embassy convinced us
that this was nothing but a simple matter of an invalid passport, we must
point out the following:
Bobby
Fischer has succeeded in his quest for Icelandic citizenship!
"This
is a historic battle pitting the world's sole superpower-bully against one
lone man who had the courage to fight for his own freedom to think and speak
as he chooses. Bobby Fischer is standing up as a hero of every
oppressed individual in the world," said John Bosnitch. "Freedom of
belief and human rights will triumph over tyrannical persecution."
(4/2)
