The homepage of the WikiLeaks.org website. The WikiLeaks whistleblower site claimed on Thursday a victory in an Icelandic court against efforts to block donations to it since 2010.
The WikiLeaks whistleblower site claimed on Thursday a victory in an Icelandic court against efforts to block donations to it since 2010.
WikiLeaks said in a statement that the Reykjavik District Court had ruled in the website's favour against Valitor, formerly Visa Iceland, which handles Visa and MasterCard payments on the North Atlantic island.
"The court ruled that the donation gateway should be reopened within 14 days otherwise Valitor will be penalized with a fine of 800,000 Icelandic kronur ($6,200) daily," the statement said.
No comment from the court was immediately available.
In December 2010, the two credit card companies imposed a ban on payments to WikiLeaks through DataCell, a data hosting service provider that handles WikiLeaks' donation collection.
Visa and MasterCard's move, which was imitated by other companies like the online money transfer service company PayPal, came as the whistleblower website began publishing 250,000 secret diplomatic cables, sparking an international controversy and enraging Washington.
WikiLeaks has also filed complaints in other countries against similar bans, and the European Commission has opened an investigation into the situation.
WikiLeaks, founded in 2006, leaked classified information about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as classified US diplomatic cables, many of which contained embarrassing revelations and descriptions of foreign officials.
(c) 2012 AFP
