Members of parliament spreading lies in scandal cover-up

[alert@peace2000.org]

1. December 2002

Corrupt Members of Icelandic Parliament engaged in scandal cover-up

Hundreds of protest letters from all over the world are flooding email
boxes of parliamentarians, civil servants and the media in Iceland.  It«s
really working!  They are now running so scared they have started using
corrupt members of parliament to call peace activists and lie to them about
our story.

The latest is a member of the Left/Green Party, Mr. Arni Steinar
Johannsson, called an activist in the USA and told him that the prison I
was held in is like a "country club" and nothing like what I have
described.  A reporter wanted to photograph the prison cell, but the police
refused.  We should demand the prison cell being shown to the media,
preferably the International media.

The media in Iceland has systematically been used to try to discredit me.
Hardly anyone has the guts to speak out. Members of parliament do not want
to disturb their opposition too much because after upcoming elections they
may need their support for forming a multi-party government.  What is
happening here is the death of a one thousand year old democracy.

Employees of the newspapers DV have made physical threats against my person
which are now being investigated by the police.  I call on you to ask your
newspaper and TV media contacts to see the prison cell I was kept in and
send a request for this to: althing@peace.is Your message will immediately
be distributed to all members of parliament, civil servants and the media
in Iceland.
  
Kind regards and thank you for all your support.  Thor Magnusson -
thor@peace2000.org


1. December 2002
WARNING TO AIR PASSENGERS:

WARNING:  Icelandair, Atlanta, Air France, Iberia, Virgin Atlantic,
Malaysia Airlines, Saudia Airlines, Air Algerie, Excel Airways, Garuda
Indonesia, Air Asia, Southern Winds Airlines, Nigeria Airways, Aeromar.
These airlines may be using aircraft under contract to fly dangerous
weapons and troops.

The Prime Minister of Iceland Mr. David Oddsson has announced an agreement
with civil airlines intended to strengthening NATO military operations by
placing the transport capacity of passenger aircraft at the disposal of
NATO to move weapons and troops.  Former Icelandic Presidential Candidate,
Mr. Thor Magnusson leader of the Peace 2000 movement, was imprisoned when
alerting police, members of parliament, civil servants and airlines to the
immediate danger this poses to airline passengers that now may be flying in
aircraft which form a part of the NATO military program.  Mr. Oddsson said
movement of weapons with these aircraft could start as soon as military
agression is launched against Iraq.  Many believe the agreement makes these
aircraft a legitimate target for opponents in NATO warfare.

Peace 2000 contacted both Icelandair (http://www.icelandair.is) and Air
Atlanta (http://www.atlanta.is) asking for details of the agreement, and
for more details about armaments transport the Prime Minister said to news
reporters have already taken place with Atlanta aircraft.  After meeting
with the chief of the Icelandic Air Safety Board Mr. Petur Maack, Peace
2000 has a reason to believe international air safety regulations, the JAR
protocol, has been compromised.  A reason for additional alarm is the
airlines refusal to give Peace 2000 any details of the agreement or
activities related to this agreement.

INTERNATIONAL WARNING:

Please be aware that if you are intending to travel with Icelandair or Air
Atlanta you may be posed to additional security risk.  In the opinion of
Peace 2000 these aircraft may now fall within the category of targets
described by Osama Bin Laden and his followers.  Bin Ladenās call for
terror published Sunday 24th November in the British Press is an additional
cause for alarm.

Icelandair operates a trans-atlantic route from Minneappolis/St.Paul, New
York, Boston, Baltimore/Washington, Orlando/Florida in the USA to:
Reykjavik, Helsinki, Oslo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Glasgow, London,
Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, Milano and Barcelona.

Air Atlanta operates under it«s own name, but many of their aircraft are
camouflaged in the colors and identity of other carriers.  According to
Atlanta«s website these include: Virgin Atlantic, Air France, Saudia, Air
Algerie, Iberia, Excel Airways, Garuda Indonesia, Air Asia, Nigeria
Airways, Aeromar, Malaysia Airlines, Southern Winds and various holiday
tour operators flying out of London Gatwick airport.  Known routes are:
Buenous Aires to Miami and Madrid, Jeddah, Kuala Lumpor, Lagos, London
Gatwick, London Heathrow for Virgin Atlantic to Lagos Nigeria, Manchester
UK for Virgin Atlantic to Orlando Florida, Santo Domingo for Aeromar to
Carribian Islands and the USA.

Peace 2000 suggests the following precautions to passengers:

1.	Call your airline to make sure that they are not using aircraft
from Icelandair or Atlanta.
2.	You can recognize Icelandic aircraft by their registration ID which
starts with TF-
3.	If you have other travel options, select a different airline
4.	If you do not have other options, take out life insurance for the
benefit of your family.

If you already hold a reservation or have paid for your ticket:  
In the opinion of Peace 2000 the use of civil aircraft for military
purposes is a breach of international regulations.  You should therefore be
able to demand a full refund of your ticket.

If you are about to board aircraft and see itās registration starts with TF-  
Demand to fly with another aircraft or a full refund of your ticket.

To protest by email:
Send email to: althing@peace.is  Your message will immediately be forwarded
to government offices, members of parliament, civil servents and airlines.

Media Contact:
Thor Magnusson - Peace 2000 ö Vogasel 1 - 109 Reykjavik - Iceland.
Telephone: +354 557 1000.  Fax: +354 552 2000. - http://www.peace2000.org
-  Email: thor@peace2000.org


30. November 2002
"WARNING TO AIRLINE PASSENGERS" sent to Icelandic Police for Censorship.
The Airlines have refused to answer our letter and enquiry.  As a result
Peace 2000 has today sent to the Icelandic  Police Commissioner text we
want to issue as a warning to passengers intending to travel on Icelandair
and Air Atlanta.  The chief of police is being asked if the text will
result in a second arrest of Thor Magnusson.  We have taken certain
precautions in the circumstances the police would not reply to the draft
text but would illegally arrest and detain Thor in prison isolation as last
week.  To make sure they cannot stop the warning on such illegal basis, the
text has also been sent for safe keeping to selected activists both in
Iceland and internationally.  If our warning has not been issued by
midnight GMT 30th. November, and if there is no update on this website or
if this website is down, you should expect that something is wrong.  The
Hausman Peace Project is one of the people that has been sent a copy of the
Warning to Airline Passengers for safe storage.

29. November 2002:
Peace 2000 leader arrested and imprisoned & our computers confiscated in
Iceland!
Last Friday Icelandic Prime Minister Mr. David Oddsson and Foreign Minister
Mr. Halldor Asgrimsson surprised and shocked most of our formerly peaceful
nation with an announcement from the NATO meeting in Prague, that Iceland
is no longer a by-stander in military actions and that an agreement has
been made with two Icelandic public transport airlines, Icelandair and
Atlanta, to use their passenger aircraft for transportation of NATO weapons
and soldiers. We have never had a military following a peace meeting by the
Vikings at our Althing in the year 1000! But our misguided Prime Minister
Mr. Oddsson said this new policy of his government is to "strengthen the
military might of the NATO alliance" and to "fly troops and military
equipment to war areas and that the Icelandic government would pay for it".
The news indicated the first flight operation using Icelandic passenger
aircraft for the transportation of weapons and troops may be as soon as
with an upcoming war with Iraq that the Prime Minister expects that NATO
and his government will support.

I issued a warning immediately on Friday that any agreement linking the use
of passenger aircraft with NATO or with the transportation of weapons and
troops will compromise the security of those aircraft - also when
conducting normal passenger flights. 

Within hours of my warning Friday I was arrested by the Icelandic Police. I
was taken from a restaurant down town by secret police that was in no
uniform into an unmarked car. They refused to let my fiancee and the other
people I was with in the restaurant know that I was being arrested. A man
simply asked me to come with him outside for a moment, and there he
arrested me. They could have ditched anywhere and nobody would have
known!!! I was thrown into jail and kept there for several days in complete
isolation. The first night I was kept in a cell without any toilet and had
to do my things on the floor!!! Only when the High Court heard an appeal
the Police released me. 

But it does not seem to be the end! News report last night said that the
police was looking at another letter I sent to the directors of the
airlines yesterday, and that today they will make a decision for further
action. Our lawyer suggested I sleep the night in hiding somewhere. 

People have been phoning us constantly - everyone is shocked. Lawyers say
that the arrest has no foundation in law. Our best-known human rights
lawyer, Mr. Ragnar Adalsteinsson took it up by himself to speak out in a
shock over this on TV while I was in the prison. He tells me the law
professors at the Reykjavik University are also shocked. EkstraBladet, a
major newspaper in Denmark, said that the imprisonment of the leader of
Peace 2000, former Icelandic Presidential Candidate AstThor Magnusson was
an obvious action to "shut the mouth of the opposition". 

A man called me last night and told me that he has knowledge that my arrest
was decided in the Prime Ministers office building. Politicians are not
supposed to have any influence on the police here, but this seems to be
changing now.

The police raided the Peace 2000 offices and my home in the middle of the
night and confiscated computers. They have refused to return the computers
and are keeping all member databases and contact lists. Earlier this year,
when the President of China visted Iceland, the Icelandic police worked
with a "black list" of Falun Gong practitioners that wanted to do a
peaceful demonstration against Human Rights abuses in China. On
instructions from the government of China as it seems, they arrested whole
groups of Falun Gong tourists upon arrival in the country and kept them in
a detention centre. The Icelandic police also got the airlines to cooperate
and give access to reservation lists to refuse boarding in foreign airports
if their name was found on the black list from China. We fear that they
have now started to create a black lists of the Peace 2000 members and that
this may be used in a similar way as with the Falun Gong black list.

We have written to the directors of both airlines. We have asked them to
increase security immediately and to terminate said armaments transport
agreement forthwith. In our opinion, while any such agreements are in
place, these aircraft are at increased risk as they seem in that situation
to fall exactly within the description of targets by terrorist groups. It
is clear that my warning and calling for extra security last Friday was
valid. While I was being detained in prison, the UK Observer newspaper
printed a new letter from Osama Bin Laden where he calls for terrorist
attacks against civilian targets. Yesterday there was an attempt to shoot
down an Israeli passenger aircraft.

Many fear that the Icelandic government ministers have become so corrupt
that they may try to use the police again today to send me back to prison
in an attempt to stop me talking about this.

PLEASE SEND YOUR PROTEST:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Please protest my arrest by immediate email and ask your contact lists to
do same. In Icelandic my name is written: Astthor Magnusson. Please also
demand that the Peace 2000 computers and data are returned immediately.
We've created a mailing list that will distribute your message
automatically to all Icelandic Members of Parliament, Civil Servants, the
Airlines and to the Icelandic Media. You can send your message to:
althing@peace.is