The Icelandic parliament is expected to vote today on whether to grant citizenship to former chess great Bobby Fisher citizenship. The bill reached parliament on Friday, after the bill was passed by a special committee.
The vote by parliament comes on the heels of last month’s decision by the Icelandic government to grant Fischer a special tourist passport. This passport was hand delivered to Fischer by the Icelandic ambassador to Japan, Thordur Oskarsson , and Fischer’s former body guard, Saemundur Pálsson.
Despite the special Icelandic travel passport, Japanese authorities refused to release Fischer, who has been held in a Japanese prison since 13 July, 2004. He is awaiting deportation to the US for violating UN sanctions by playing a chess tournament in then-Yugoslavia back in 1992.
Masako Suzuki, Fischer’s lawyer, has asked Japanese authorities to release him if he’s given citizenship.
