Bjork Wants Bobby's Fischer

[GuyJean]

Iceland Offers Chess Legend Bobby Fischer Residency

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20041215/en_afp/icelandusjapanchess_041215205955

Iceland said it would give a residence permit to chess legend Bobby Fischer, who is being held by Japanese immigration authorities and the United States is seeking to extradite.

"The Directory of Immigration has today confirmed that Mr Fischer's application has been approved. The Icelandic Embassy in Tokyo has been instructed to inform Mr Fischer about the decision," Iceland's foreign ministry said in a statement.

In an interview aired on Icelandic television station Channel 2 on Monday, Fischer said he had written to Icelandic Foreign Minister David Oddsson requesting asylum.

"I hope the Icelandic government grants me political asylum," he said in the interview.

The Icelandic government however only agreed to give Fischer a residence permit, although it did instruct its embassy in Japan to "help him to get to Iceland if he so wishes".

GJ

[Marked Trail]

The Icelandic Chess Association, which has lobbied for Fischer's release, hailed the government's decision.
"This is a great victory, a victory for Bobby and for Iceland," Gudfridur Lilja Gretarsdottir, president of the association, told Icelandic public television. "... Playing chess has never been a crime," she added.
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ICELAND: NICE FOLKS!
Killing whales and suppporting genocide of Bobby's butt-buyer, Slobodan Milosevic .

I hope the mass-murder paycheck Bobby collected was enough blood money to support the life sytle he deserves.... on a remote glacier in Iceland. Playing chess for Slobodan, Mr Ethic-Cleansing was a crime.

Wait a minute...What about Bobby's hot "wife" Miyoko Watai? Is she joining him on the iceflow too?

[Captain Japan]

Maybe details on Bjork and Bobby's first house party will be revealed today...

Press Conference: John Bosnitch, Committee to Free Bobby Fischer; Miyoko Watai, Japan Chess Association Acting President
Foreign Correspondents' Club Japan
(15:00-16:00 Friday, December 17, the speech and Q & A will be in English)

Five months have passed since former world chess champion Bobby Fischer was arrested at Narita Airport on suspicion of holding an invalid passport. He remains in detention at the East Japan Immigration Bureau Detention Center in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture.

The Committee to Free Bobby Fischer will hold a press conference at the Club on Friday, Dec. 17, 3:00-4:00 p.m., and update members on the current status of his detention and legal appeals.

Scheduled to attend are John Bosnitch, head of the committee; Miyoko Watai, acting president of the Japan Chess Association and Fischer's fiancee; and tentatively, Masako Suzuki, Fischer's Japanese attorney.

In addition to calling for Fischer to be granted a provisional release for the upcoming holiday period, the participants will again ask the U.S. government to release relevant documents about the circumstances surrounding the former chess champion's arrest.

Members planning to attend this press conference are asked to reserve in advance, on-line (http://www.fccj.or.jp -- please log in to reserve) or at the Front Desk (3211-3161), so that the staff can make appropriate preparations. It's free of charge.

Torasan, where are you? Get on down there!

[Taro Toporific]

Maybe details on Bjork and Bobby's first house party will be revealed today...

I wonder what Bobby's boys and girls can "announce"? The Japan government has not said a word, the US won't say a word and Iceland has already mad their statement.

FromFreeBobby.net....

ICELAND INVITES BOBBY FISCHER
Posted by freebobby on 2004/12/16 5:25:00 (0 reads)
Chess Legend A Big Step Closer to Freedom!
The Committee to Free Bobby Fischer is holding a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan at 3:00 PM on Friday, December 17, 2004 on the subject of Iceland's invitation to Bobby Fischer and the impact this...The absurd charade of Bobby Fischer's kidnapping and subsequent unlawful detention is moving toward its inevitable end.

[Taro Toporific]

Yes Bjork, Bobby is this long.

Bobby Fischer could be free if Japan cooperates: lawyer
Fri Dec 17,10:14 AM ET
TOKYO (AFP) - Maverick chess genius Bobby Fischer...could be a free man in Iceland within a month if Tokyo treats him fairly, his lawyer revealed...........
....Immigration officials have also said they were awaiting the outcome of two suits brought by Fischer against his deportation order before taking any action on his case.

[Marked Trail]

....Immigration officials have also said they were awaiting the outcome of two suits brought by Fischer against his deportation order before taking any action on his case.

Bobby Fischer, international man of mineral spas and fish
December 19, 2004 PEOP1219
Former chess champion Bobby Fischer has been sitting in detention in Japan for half a year. But an offer from Iceland last week to have him live there could be the godsend that solves all his problems. Fischer said through his lawyers he would be more than happy to go to Iceland -- the scene of his greatest chess triumph -- although he's unlikely to ever go back to playing chess professionally ...
On Friday, Fischer's fianc&eacute]Iceland tells U.S. to butt out; Fischer still welcome[/b]
The Japan Times: Dec. 23, 2004
REYKJAVIK (AP)Iceland has rejected a U.S. request to drop the offer of a residency permit for former American chess champion Bobby Fischer, officials said Tuesday.
The U.S. ambassador to Iceland, James Gadsden, asked the country last week to withdraw its offer because Fischer is wanted in the United States on criminal charges....
...Oddsson also told Gadsden that Fischer's alleged crime had exceeded Iceland's statute of limitations, and for that reason Iceland would not be bound by a U.S. extradition request if the chess player moved from Japan to Iceland.
Gunnar Smari Gunnarsson, Iceland's permanent secretary of state, said in an interview Tuesday: "Nothing has been withdrawn. It is now up to the Japanese government. We are not pressing the matter, but if Fischer comes here, he will be let into the country."

[Blah Pete]

[Captain Japan]

Bobby Fischer demands passage to Iceland
CNN/SI

TOKYO (AP) -- Former chess champion Bobby Fischer demanded Friday that the Japanese government release him from immigration detention and allow him to travel to Iceland "as soon as possible."

"I hereby demand an autonomous departure from Japan to Iceland," Fischer wrote in his message dated Wednesday. "However if that's too difficult then I accept that I be deported to Iceland. Please examine both possibilities at the same time."

Fischer offered to drop his lawsuit against his deportation order to the United States if Tokyo would agree to have him sent to Iceland instead.

"I request my departure from Japan as soon as possible," he added.

A Justice Ministry immigration bureau official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he was unaware of the request. Fischer's lawyer's said they expected to hear back from the ministry Friday.

Fischer's supporters on Wednesday sent a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi urging him to allow the chess great to go to Iceland.

Interesting that this is on a sports webpage...

[dimwit]

Iceland Offers Chess Legend Bobby Fischer Residency

Why does that picture of Bobby Fischer always remind me of the lead character in Quadrophenia?

[jim katta]

Kewl. I'd say Iceland has earned a bit of tourism cash from me just for this gesture.

[Taro Toporific]

Bobby Fischer
BREAKING NEWS
Reykjavík, 15 Janury 2005
A status report from RJF Committee - Iceland
Blah, blah, blah... <no real news>...
....Although the Japanese Justice Minister Chieko Nohno mumbled yes-yes some three weeks ago and promised to consider Bobby's handwritten plea to the Japanese authorities from his detention cell to be allowed to go to Iceland, nothing has happened....
....When Fischer's assistant approached the Japanese Justice Authority asking for an answer to the question of how long they intended to hold him there, a high ranking official is quoted to have replied, "We can keep him as long as we like. We can eat him if we choose to."

[tatsujin]

"We can keep him as long as we like. We can eat him if we choose to."

Now that is how a high ranking official should answer a question!

[Taro Toporific]

"We can keep him as long as we like. We can eat him if we choose to."

Now that is how a high ranking official should answer a question!

Well, I doubt that's a real quote... Japanese authorities never state their opinions.

[Captain Japan]

This is only an hour away but...
Press Conference, Committee to Free Bobby Fischer
FCCJ

(13:00-14:00 Wednesday, January 19, the speech and Q & A will be in English)

The legal team representing former world chess champion Bobby Fischer will hold another press conference at the club to discuss the latest court proceedings involving his incarceration.

The main talking point will be the status of Iceland's offer to accept Fischer. The team, consisting of three attorneys plus Miyoko Watai, Fischer's fiancee and acting president of the Japan Chess Association, and John Bosnitch, Committee to Free Bobby Fischer, will ask the court Wednesday morning to direct the Immigration Bureau to respond to Iceland's offer to accept Bobby Fischer. They will also file a writ of habeas corpus, demanding Fischer be immediately released.

Fischer's lawyers also indicated that they will ask the Icelandic Parliament to make Fisher a citizen so that he might receive a passport, thus hopefully paving the way for his release. It was Fischer's failure to produce a valid passport that led to his being detained by immigration officials at Narita Airport on July 13, 2004.

Attending the press conference will be Masako Suzuki, Noriko Watanabe and Takeshi Ohhashi, Fisher's lawyers; Watai; and Bosnitch.

Members planning to attend this press conference are asked to reserve in advance, on-line (http://www.fccj.or.jp -- please log in to reserve) or at the Front Desk (3211-3161), so that the staff can make appropriate preparations. It's free of charge.

* To suggest a speaker for a club event, send your idea to SpeakerIdeas@FCCJ.or.jp.

Professional Activities Committee

Tora-san, get on down there!

[Captain Japan]

AP

TOKYO - American chess champion Bobby Fischer should be freed immediately and allowed to leave Japan for Iceland rather than face deportation to the United States, his supporters said in a court filing Wednesday.

Japan has ordered Fischer, 61, deported to the United States to faces charges of violating international sanctions against the former Yugoslavia, for playing chess there in 1992.

The reclusive chess master has been in jail for six months, after his arrest at the Tokyo airport for trying to board a plane to the Philippines with an invalid U.S. passport, and his immigration case has stalled.

Fischer's fiancee Miyoko Watai — a Japanese chess official whom he applied to marry while in detention — and supporter John Bosnitch filed a habeas corpus petition Wednesday, asking Japan to immediately free Fischer so he can leave for Iceland. Watai has said she would like to also go to Iceland, the site of Fischer's greatest chess victory against Soviet chess champion Boris Spassky.

"Now, we want the body. That's what habeas corpus means," Bosnitch said....the rest...

[Captain Japan]

Looks like it'll be a while...
Bobby Fischer's Reykjavik refuge plan put on ice
Mainichi

Jailed chess genius Bobby Fischer suffered a damaging blow in his quest for freedom Wednesday morning after Justice Ministry lawyers told the Tokyo District Court they had no intention of letting him leave Japan for Iceland.

Fischer's lawyer Masako Suzuki told the court that the chess champion's fight against a deportation order was meaningless as Reykjavik had expressed a willingness to take him in.

Tsuyoshi Satake, lawyer for the Ministry of Justice, said the ministry wanted to continue the lawsuit in its current form, which requires Fischer be deported to the United States.

Presiding Judge Toshihiko Tsuruoka questioned Satake on the ministry's stance against Fischer.

"Can we say you are not willing to change to the deportation destination to Iceland?" the judge asked.

"You can interpret our stance that way," Satake replied.

The ministry's position means Japanese law enforcers will only accept Fischer's deportation to the United States, where a grand jury has charged him with violating an Executive Order by playing chess in Yugoslavia when it was under economic sanctions in 1992.

[Taro Toporific]

Presiding Judge Toshihiko Tsuruoka questioned Satake on the ministry's stance against Fischer.
"Can we say you are not willing to change to the deportation destination to Iceland?" the judge asked.
"You can interpret our stance that way," Satake replied.

It's sounds like a Beckett play or the Dead Parrot Sketch.

....the court case meant that they would be contradicting the very deportation order the ministry had issued against Fischer. Satake refused to comment.
Satake also maintained his silence when questioned by reporters after the court case adjourned....
...Satake refused to comment during proceedings about whether the ministry's case in its fight against Fischer meant he was answering on behalf of the minister.

[Captain Japan]

Bobby Fischer gets passport from Iceland
Mainichi

Icelandic authorities have reportedly agreed to issue incarcerated chess champion Bobby Fischer with a special passport that would allow him to travel throughout Western Europe.

John Bosnitch, head of the Committee to Free Bobby Fischer, said he had heard that the grandmaster will be supplied with a special foreigner's passport, but could not confirm the reports.

Nonetheless, he said he expected the passport would be sent to Japan and said he would make an announcement when it did arrive.

"It should be delivered in the next few days. If that takes place, we will deliver it to Bobby in the (East Japan Immigration Bureau) Detention Center (in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture), and we will renew our demand that he be permitted voluntary departure and authorities apologize," Bosnitch told the Mainichi Daily News on Wednesday night. "We have made these requests before, but received no official response."...the rest...

[Captain Japan]

Friends blocked from seeing Bobby Fischer behind bars
Mainichi

USHIKU, Ibaraki -- Bobby Fischer's fiancee Miyoko Watai and Saemundur Palsson, one of his oldest friends, were abruptly and dramatically turned away "for safety reasons" when they tried to visit the incarcerated chess champion here Wednesday afternoon, the Mainichi Daily News learned.

Officials at the East Japan Immigration Bureau Detention Center in Ushiku refused to go into any further detail for explaining why the reunion was cancelled minutes before it was due to have taken place, even though Palsson had spent days getting to Tokyo and hours traveling with Watai from the capital to the Ibaraki Prefecture lockup....the rest...

[Oradea]

"We can keep him as long as we like. We can eat him if we choose to."

Yeah, I don't believe the official was stating an opinion, merely a fact.
In Ibaraki, there is a special clause, allowing retired chess players to be eaten by high ranking staff while in detention awaiting deportation.

[Captain Japan]

I keep posting these updates in hopes that Tora-san will make a reappearance. You out there?
Press Conference, Committee to Free Bobby Fischer
Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan

(13:30-14:30 Friday, March 4, the speech and Q & A will be in English)

On Wednesday, two delegations from Iceland arrived in Japan in hopes of delivering former world chess champion Bobby Fischer an Icelandic passport so that he might be released from detention at the East Japan Immigration Bureau Detention Center in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture.

Fischer, who has been incarcerated for the past seven months over a passport violation at Narita Airport, is seeking to leave Japan for Iceland.

The first delegation is led by Saemi Palsson, Fischer's friend and chief of security when he played the 1972 chess world championship in Iceland. Palsson is accompanied by media representatives from the Icelandic Broadcasting Corporation's Channel 2 Television station.

A second delegation includes a group of eminent citizens including Einar S. Einarsson, Icelandic chess federation chief, Gardar Sverrisson, leading campaigner for Bobby Fischer and activist in Icelandic public affairs, and Gudmundur G. Thorarinsson, former member of Iceland's parliament and organizer of the 1972 world chess championship.

These individuals will be joined by Miyoko Watai, chief of the Japan Chess Association and Fischer's fiancee; Masako Suzuki, Fischer's lead attorney; and John Bosnitch, chairman of the Tokyo-based Committee to Free Bobby Fischer.

Members planning to attend this press conference are asked to reserve in advance, on-line (http://www.fccj.or.jp -- please log in to reserve) or at the Front Desk (3211-3161), so that the staff can make appropriate preparations. It's free of charge.

* To suggest a speaker for a club event, send your idea to SpeakerIdeas@FCCJ.or.jp.

Professional Activities Committee

[Taro Toporific]

In the end it's the IRS that's gonna get him ... just like Al Capone!

Bobby Fischer's U.S. tax time bomb set to explode
By Marvin Feltcher, Mainichi Daily News, March 5, 2005
....if the I.R.S. secures a grand jury indictment on Fischer for tax evasion - the chess genius has admitted publicly that he has not filed a tax return since 1976 - U.S. authorities can ask Japan to extradite the grandmaster.
More ominously for Fischer, even if he is successful in leaving his Ushiku cell and reaching Reykjavik, Iceland also has an extradition treaty with the U.S. that would compel it to send him to the country of his birth if charged with being a tax dodger unless he could convince its courts not to do so.

[This is a pen]

Grand Master Bobby Fischer will sue the Ministry of Justice and Immigration Bureau if he is not released by the end of this week, his supporters told a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan in Tokyo on Tuesday.


Pointing out that Fischer had a passport from Iceland, a plane ticket out of the country and had expressed willingness to end legal action against the Justice Ministry if it promised to let him leave for Reykjavik, the Grand Master's supporters demanded he be freed from the East Japan Immigration Bureau Detention Center in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture. ...Read More...

[Captain Japan]

I was at the press conference with Marvin today. Here's a few shots...


Bobby's lady with his brand spanking new Iceland alien passport


Bobby's lawyer with his brand spanking new Iceland alien passport (who's that in the background?????)


Many Bobbys and an autograph



Bobbby's ugly mug

[torasan]

I was there, too, and hey, it's over the top already.
What a circus the press con was. Or should I say what a con the press con was?

But read this first:
------------------------------------------------------
In the meantime, supporters say, Fischer is showing signs of extreme fatigue.

"He is at the end of his rope, physically and mentally," said his loopy convenience fiancee, Miyoko Watai, who heads the Japan Chess Federation.

According to his supporters, Fischer was put in solitary last week after a dispute erupted over his breakfast. [Actually, he was put in a dark cement closet with no windows and a straitjacket. That's what happens when you challenge the guards, dopey! And all that for an egg?]

Watai said Fischer told her he requested a hard-boiled egg, cooked for three solid minutes, which was refused him, and he grabbed a guard in protest. Several more guards were called in to restrain him, and he hit one of them in the nose, although it was not clear whether he intended to do so or not.
---------------------------------------------------------------

It appears that Bobby is losing his marbles, losing his sanity and losing his case. So sue me? Please!

[Mulboyne]

Bobbby's ugly mug

I was with the Captain tonight looking at his photocopies of Bobby's passport. We noticed that today is Bobby's birthday.

[Captain Japan]

I was with the Captain tonight looking at his photocopies of Bobby's passport. We noticed that today is Bobby's birthday.

[deltaco]

Bobby Fischer 03/09/1943 alive
62

May you get a birthday cake with a hacksaw in it. LOL

[Taro Toporific]

Bobby Fischer 03/09/1943 alive
62

May you get a birthday cake with a hacksaw in it. LOL

Today is Thursday March 10, 2005 in Japan so it's a belated birthday you're wishing him.

[Mulboyne]

Today is Thursday March 10, 2005 in Japan so it's a belated birthday you're wishing him.

Well, it was still the 9th (just) when I got in although it wouldn't have been if I'd taken up the Captain's offer to drink on. Or, indeed, GomiGirl's...