Associated Press
REYKJAVIK, Iceland - Lawmakers in Iceland are likely to
grant citizenship to mercurial chess genius Bobby
Fischer, who currently sits in a Japanese cell, a member
of a parliamentary committee studying the issue said
Wednesday.
Gudrun Ogmundsdottir told The Associated Press that a
citizenship motion probably would be approved by the
nine-member committee Thursday. If it passes, it will go
before Iceland's 63-member parliament, the Althingi.
"I think that parliament may approve of the citizenship
as early as tomorrow," said Ogmundsdottir, a member of
the opposition Alliance Party.
"Somebody would then go over to Japan with the passport,
which would enable him to travel here or anywhere in the
world."
Fischer, 62, is in a Japanese detention cell awaiting
deportation to the United States, where he is wanted for
violating economic sanctions against the former
Yugoslavia by playing a highly publicized chess match
there in 1992.
Mizuho Fukushima, leader of Japan's opposition Social
Democratic Party, said senior immigration officials told
her that Fischer would be allowed to go to Iceland if he
is given citizenship there.
There is widespread support for Fischer in Iceland,
where he played the Soviet Union's Boris Spassky in a
celebrated world championship match in 1972 that put the
small country on the map.
Last month, Iceland's parliament voted against granting
Fischer citizenship, instead offering him a special
foreigners' passport and residence permit. But Japanese
officials so far have declined to release Fischer.
Several Icelandic politicians indicated Wednesday that
parliament was now likely to grant Fischer citizenship.
"I can't speak for the whole party, but think few if any
members of Parliament are opposed to granting Fischer
citizenship," said Drifa Hjartardottir, a lawmaker with
the Independence Party, which governs as part of
Iceland's coalition government.
"We will not stand in the way of Fischer getting
citizenship and want this issue to be resolved as
quickly as possible," said Ogmundur Jonasson, a lawmaker
with the Left-Green opposition party. "The worst thing
we can do, both for Iceland and for Fischer, is to wait
any longer."
Since being taken into custody in July for allegedly
trying to leave Japan on a revoked U.S. passport,
Fischer has lived up to his reputation for
unpredictability.
He has repeatedly denounced the U.S. deportation order
as politically motivated, demanded refugee status,
unilaterally renounced his U.S. citizenship and said he
wants to become a German national instead. He has also
applied to marry a Japanese woman who heads this
country's chess association and is his longtime
companion.
Einar S. Einarsson, the former CEO of Visa Iceland who
is one of Fischer's most fervent supporters, said he was
optimistic.
"It's been like a chess game and there's only one move
left before checkmate," he said.
Fischer, who has not visited Iceland since his 1972
match, virtually disappeared from the limelight for
years before the 1992 rematch. In recent years, he has
emerged from silence in radio broadcasts and on his Web
page to express anti-Semitic views and rail against the
United States.
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