WikiLeaks wins case against VISA
The Reykjavík District Court has ruled that Valitor, formerly known
as VISA Iceland, violated contract laws by blocking credit card
donations to Wikileaks, according to a press release posted on the
whistleblowers' Twitter account.
The court also ordered that the donation gateway should be reopened
within 14 days otherwise Valitor will be forced to pay a fine of
$6,200 daily. Valitor CEO Vidar Thorkellsson told Bloomberg, however,
that the company would appeal the ruling. He declined to comment
further.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said "This is a
significant victory against Washington's attempt to silence WikiLeaks.
We will not be silenced. Economic censorship is censorship. It is
wrong. When it's done outside of the rule of law its doubly wrong. One
by one those involved in the attempted censorship of WikiLeaks will
find themselves on the wrong side of history."
The blockade
stripped away over 95% of donations from supporters of WikiLeaks,
costing the organization in excess of $20 million.
In June,
Datacell, the Iceland-based company that processed donations for
WikiLeaks, filed a case against Valitor, the company behind VISA and
MasterCard, for "unlawfully suspending financial services".
Wikileaks
faced a number of financial obstacles in 2010. When Master Card and
other companies began to block payments to the site, Datacell allowed
VISA card-holders to donate to Wikileaks via the company.
However,
Visa banned its card-holders from donating to Wikileaks. Datacell's
director Olafur Sigurvinsson told reporters he was amazed at the double
stadards.
"I can support Al-Qaeda, the Ku Klux Klan, buy
weapons and drugs and all kinds of porn with my Visa card. There is
nobody investigating this, but I cannot support a human rights
organisation which is fighting for freedom of expression," Sigurvinsson said.
Donating money is a basic right in every free society, agrees human rights activist Peter Tatchell.
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