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Icelandic firm ordered to process WikiLeaks donations or face fines

Icelandic firm ordered to process WikiLeaks donations or face fines

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A company in Iceland has been ordered to process WikiLeaks donations within two weeks or face daily fines.

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A court in Iceland has ordered former WikiLeaks business partner Valitor to reopen credit card donations to the whistle-blowing organization. The suit was originally filed in June by DataCell, a company that handles WikiLeaks donations in the country. According to WikiLeaks, in June 2011 Valitor — formerly known as VISA Iceland — signed a deal with DataCell to process donations, but terminated the arrangement after a "brief period" and "without any plausible explanation." Today's ruling will require Valitor to reopen donations within 14 days or face fines of 800,000 Icelandic krona (about US$6,200) per day.

"Economic censorship is censorship."

WikiLeaks claims that the block on donations worldwide has cost the group more than $20 million. "This is a significant victory against Washington's attempt to silence WikiLeaks," founder Julian Assange said in a statement. "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." Valitor CEO Vidar Thorkellsson told Bloomberg that the company plans to appeal the decision.