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USHIKU, Japan (Reuters) - Former world chess champion Bobby
Fischer was released from detention in Japan on Thursday,
allowing him to avoid deportation to the United States and head
for Iceland, which has granted him citizenship.
It was the beginning of the end of an eight-month saga that
began when Fischer, 62, was taken into custody in Japan last
July for traveling on what U.S. officials said was an invalid
passport.
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The RJF Committee sent us documents
and translations to document Fischer's
Icelandic citizenship,
as well as a photograph of his new passport. |
He could face prison and fines in the United States, where he is
wanted for violating sanctions against the former Yugoslavia by
playing a chess match there in 1992.
Fischer sprang to fame when he won the world title in a classic
Cold War encounter with Soviet champion Boris Spassky in Iceland
in 1972.
Fischer, who had grown a long white beard and was wearing a dark
baseball cap over his forehead, was released from a detention
center in Ushiku, northeast of Tokyo, witnesses said, where he
has spent the last eight months.
Refraining from any comment to reporters who had gathered
outside, Fischer got in an Icelandic embassy car and headed for
Narita International Airport, where he was to depart for
Iceland.
The chess master used a series of legal moves to fight
deportation to the United States, including seeking refugee
status, renouncing his U.S. citizenship and unveiling plans to
marry his companion, Miyoko Watai, a four-time Japan women's
chess champion.
"I'm very happy, it's like a dream," Watai told reporters as she
went into the detention center to greet her fiance. "I'm hoping
he'll be able to go to Iceland without any trouble."
Iceland granted him citizenship this week, clearing the way for
him to leave for the tiny North Atlantic state where he is
something of a hero.
The United States said that it was disappointed at Iceland's
decision to grant Fischer citizenship and reiterated its demand
for him to be handed over.
Iceland has long been a close ally of the United States, and as
the only non-armed member of NATO depends on Washington for its
military defense.
Fischer vanished after the 1992 match, in which he defeated
his old rival Spassky and pocketed $3 million.
He resurfaced after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United
States. In an interview with a Philippine radio station, Fischer
praised the strikes and said he wanted to see America "wiped
out." Although born to a Jewish mother, Fischer has also stirred
controversy with anti-Semitic remarks.
Fischer's fiance, Watai, has said she would accompany him to
Iceland. |
