OTTAWA — As Ottawa police raised a flag at their downtown headquarters in tribute to Saturday’s Transgender Day of Remembrance, two activists were arrested when they tried to hang a sign from a highway overpass.
“The police were trying to block our messaging, block us from standing up and saying our communities aren’t represented by the police,” said Taiva Tegler, who was on the overpass with about 15 other people. “We need to remember that these communities continue to he harassed, assaulted, humiliated, beaten and murdered.”
The transgender activists were arrested on Saturday afternoon for mischief after they hung a “Remember Stonewall?” banner on the overpass. The Stonewall riots in New York City in 1969 began the gay rights movement in the United States.
As many as 50 people who participated in the day’s observances crowded the police station lobby to support the two arrested.
Dan Irving, co-ordinator of the sexuality studies program at Carleton University, was among the crowd at the police station. Police allowed him to speak to the two arrested, who said they would be kept at the police station overnight because they refused to give their names.
Irving said he hopes the arrests don’t take away from the purpose of the day, which is held every Nov. 20 in cities around the world, to remember those who have been killed due to transgender hatred or prejudice.
Amanda Ryan, who helped organize the event, said Ottawa police have become the first organization in Canada to officially recognize Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Staff Sgt. John Medeiros said sensitivity training is provided for all recruits. He said Saturday’s event was a good way to create awareness and encourage people to people hate crimes.
“The trans community is a marginalized community — there is already a challenge in getting people to report,” Medeiros said. “It makes perfect sense that we would be involved in supporting victims.”
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Transgender+rights+activists+arrested+Ottawa/3861277/story.html#ixzz15tQV4exK
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Canadian diplomat blasts Ottawa
LISBON—Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s calculated political stance as an anti-Russian cold warrior has made Canada an irrelevant, mischievous force within the NATO alliance, according to a former Canadian diplomat.
Christopher Westdal, who served as ambassador to Russia from 2003 to 2006, blasted Canada’s foreign policy stance toward Russia as outdated and specifically designed to win over ethnic votes in Canada. In doing so, Ottawa has removed itself from the debate over “sound security policy.”
Harper will be on firm ground at the two-day NATO meeting which began Friday in Lisbon, Westdal said, when talk turns to the nine-year Afghan war, which Canada has committed to participating in until 2014.
But Canada will be the most marginal of players when leaders at the two-day NATO summit discuss the so-called Strategic Concept — the future of the alliance — and better relations with Russia, he said.
“Our prime minister’s credibility is undermined by widespread suspicion that his government’s policy in East-West security relations is tailored to suit Ukranian, Baltic and other Russo-phobe diaspora voting blocs in Canada,” Westdal wrote in a policy paper for the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute.
“Rigid neo-con antipathy to Russia (reinforced by conservative national media) and a foreign policy narrowly designed for diasporas have led us to the margins of irrelevance and mischief.”
At the NATO table, those policies include long-standing support for extending alliance membership to Ukraine and Georgia, two former Soviet republics.
Canada, along with the United States and a few other countries, championed the two countries’ bids to join NATO in 2008, when Russia was engaged in a brief, bloody border war with Georgia. Alliance relations with Moscow have been frosty ever since.
Georgia wants to join NATO, where it hopes to benefit from the mutual defence the alliance offers when one of its members comes under attack.
Harper met Friday with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili just before the official opening of the summit.
“As you know, we’re very appreciative of your efforts with NATO in Afghanistan and also, we’re big supporters of your NATO aspirations,” Harper said.
Dimitri Soudas, a spokesperson for Harper, the government’s position is unchanged on the contentious issue of new NATO memberships.
“It’s Ukraine that we are supporting entering the alliance, provided they want to,” he said.
The catch is that Ukraine, which voted in Victor Yanukovych as president earlier this year, no longer aspires to join the alliance.
Ottawa’s menacing stance toward Russia goes further, Westdal said. It includes very public complaints about Russian bomber flights encroaching on Canada’s Arctic territory, which experts have judged to be out of proportion to the threat those flights pose. Canada has also imposed new visa questionnaires that require Russians seeking to enter the country to disclose their membership in a political party, trade union and the particulars of their military service.
Russians can be sent to prison for providing such information to a foreign government, and the dispute between Moscow and Ottawa is yet another irritant in the already strained relationship.
“In Moscow . . . we’ve just been hard to take seriously these last five years, what with the open antipathy in our Last Cold Warrior Standing posture,” Westdal said. “Such nonsense gets notices — and does us no good.”
NATO nations will sit down Saturday with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev to discuss building closer ties and better relations. That will include new plans to build a missile defence shield across Europe — something Moscow once took as a personal threat but to which it has now warmed.
Russia will also agree to help out the NATO coalition in Afghanistan by transporting equipment and supplies by rail and providing helicopter and counter-narcotic support.
Most countries’ outmoded attitudes toward Russia have been successfully recast, Westdal said.
“Ours never were. The world has moved on, but neo-con thought is alive and well in Ottawa. We need to lift our sights and our game.”
Christopher Westdal, who served as ambassador to Russia from 2003 to 2006, blasted Canada’s foreign policy stance toward Russia as outdated and specifically designed to win over ethnic votes in Canada. In doing so, Ottawa has removed itself from the debate over “sound security policy.”
Harper will be on firm ground at the two-day NATO meeting which began Friday in Lisbon, Westdal said, when talk turns to the nine-year Afghan war, which Canada has committed to participating in until 2014.
But Canada will be the most marginal of players when leaders at the two-day NATO summit discuss the so-called Strategic Concept — the future of the alliance — and better relations with Russia, he said.
“Our prime minister’s credibility is undermined by widespread suspicion that his government’s policy in East-West security relations is tailored to suit Ukranian, Baltic and other Russo-phobe diaspora voting blocs in Canada,” Westdal wrote in a policy paper for the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute.
“Rigid neo-con antipathy to Russia (reinforced by conservative national media) and a foreign policy narrowly designed for diasporas have led us to the margins of irrelevance and mischief.”
At the NATO table, those policies include long-standing support for extending alliance membership to Ukraine and Georgia, two former Soviet republics.
Canada, along with the United States and a few other countries, championed the two countries’ bids to join NATO in 2008, when Russia was engaged in a brief, bloody border war with Georgia. Alliance relations with Moscow have been frosty ever since.
Georgia wants to join NATO, where it hopes to benefit from the mutual defence the alliance offers when one of its members comes under attack.
Harper met Friday with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili just before the official opening of the summit.
“As you know, we’re very appreciative of your efforts with NATO in Afghanistan and also, we’re big supporters of your NATO aspirations,” Harper said.
Dimitri Soudas, a spokesperson for Harper, the government’s position is unchanged on the contentious issue of new NATO memberships.
“It’s Ukraine that we are supporting entering the alliance, provided they want to,” he said.
The catch is that Ukraine, which voted in Victor Yanukovych as president earlier this year, no longer aspires to join the alliance.
Ottawa’s menacing stance toward Russia goes further, Westdal said. It includes very public complaints about Russian bomber flights encroaching on Canada’s Arctic territory, which experts have judged to be out of proportion to the threat those flights pose. Canada has also imposed new visa questionnaires that require Russians seeking to enter the country to disclose their membership in a political party, trade union and the particulars of their military service.
Russians can be sent to prison for providing such information to a foreign government, and the dispute between Moscow and Ottawa is yet another irritant in the already strained relationship.
“In Moscow . . . we’ve just been hard to take seriously these last five years, what with the open antipathy in our Last Cold Warrior Standing posture,” Westdal said. “Such nonsense gets notices — and does us no good.”
NATO nations will sit down Saturday with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev to discuss building closer ties and better relations. That will include new plans to build a missile defence shield across Europe — something Moscow once took as a personal threat but to which it has now warmed.
Russia will also agree to help out the NATO coalition in Afghanistan by transporting equipment and supplies by rail and providing helicopter and counter-narcotic support.
Most countries’ outmoded attitudes toward Russia have been successfully recast, Westdal said.
“Ours never were. The world has moved on, but neo-con thought is alive and well in Ottawa. We need to lift our sights and our game.”
Friday, November 19, 2010
Montreal’s Jaggi Singh, one of dozens of community organizers arrested even before last summer’s G20 protests began, has launched a constitutional challenge against his bail conditions.
Montreal’s Jaggi Singh, one of dozens of community organizers arrested even before last summer’s G20 protests began, has launched a constitutional challenge against his bail conditions.
Although most of his co-accused have had similar restrictions imposed on their actions and movements, Singh, a noted anti-globalization and social justice activist, is the first to take the constitutional route.
He is to appear Wednesday in Ontario Superior Court, with the support of PEN Canada which is intervening in his case, citing that Singh’s right to freedom of expression has been violated.
“The conditions are being used in a very exaggerated punitive way to simply make the process of being charged the actual punishment,’’ said Singh, who faces charges of conspiracy to commit mischief and conspiracy to assault and obstruct police.
Aside from $85,000 in bail, Singh’s conditions for release include staying away from organizing or participating in any demonstrations, not associating with any of his co-accused, house arrest, the inability to use any wireless device and not possessing a passport.
“I do a monthly (community) radio show and I have a condition that prevents me from using a wireless device: Am I using a wireless device?’’ Singh said on the phone from Montreal. “The transmitter on top of Mount Royal is the ultimate wireless device. Am I allowed to use a laptop with wireless Internet?’’
Among his many concerns, he said, is that the conditions are subject to arbitrary interpretation, as co-accused Alex Hundert discovered in September when he was arrested for participating in a university panel discussion.
As for the right to freedom of expression, PEN said: “Preventing someone from participating in a public demonstration does nothing to ensure the safety of a single Canadian. On the contrary, the practice of censorship harms the rights of all Canadians and is repugnant to any society that values its right to freedom of expression.”
“There is a constitutional right to a reasonable bail,’’ said Singh’s lawyer, Peter Rosenthal. “We’re saying that the bail conditions were entirely unreasonable.
“That in our view clearly violates freedom of expression, freedom of association, and the right to lawful assembly. There’s no possible justification for any such condition in our view.”
Although most of his co-accused have had similar restrictions imposed on their actions and movements, Singh, a noted anti-globalization and social justice activist, is the first to take the constitutional route.
He is to appear Wednesday in Ontario Superior Court, with the support of PEN Canada which is intervening in his case, citing that Singh’s right to freedom of expression has been violated.
“The conditions are being used in a very exaggerated punitive way to simply make the process of being charged the actual punishment,’’ said Singh, who faces charges of conspiracy to commit mischief and conspiracy to assault and obstruct police.
Aside from $85,000 in bail, Singh’s conditions for release include staying away from organizing or participating in any demonstrations, not associating with any of his co-accused, house arrest, the inability to use any wireless device and not possessing a passport.
“I do a monthly (community) radio show and I have a condition that prevents me from using a wireless device: Am I using a wireless device?’’ Singh said on the phone from Montreal. “The transmitter on top of Mount Royal is the ultimate wireless device. Am I allowed to use a laptop with wireless Internet?’’
Among his many concerns, he said, is that the conditions are subject to arbitrary interpretation, as co-accused Alex Hundert discovered in September when he was arrested for participating in a university panel discussion.
As for the right to freedom of expression, PEN said: “Preventing someone from participating in a public demonstration does nothing to ensure the safety of a single Canadian. On the contrary, the practice of censorship harms the rights of all Canadians and is repugnant to any society that values its right to freedom of expression.”
“There is a constitutional right to a reasonable bail,’’ said Singh’s lawyer, Peter Rosenthal. “We’re saying that the bail conditions were entirely unreasonable.
“That in our view clearly violates freedom of expression, freedom of association, and the right to lawful assembly. There’s no possible justification for any such condition in our view.”
Thursday, November 18, 2010
A woman was unlawfully arrested and suffered an "indignity" when she was forcibly strip-searched while in Ottawa police custody, an Ontario judge has ruled.
A woman was unlawfully arrested and suffered an "indignity" when she was forcibly strip-searched while in Ottawa police custody, an Ontario judge has ruled.
Stacy Bonds, 27, was arrested on Rideau Street in September 2008 and charged with public intoxication.
Justice Richard Lajoie of the Ontario court of justice stayed the charge against Bonds, ruling it would be a "travesty to permit these proceedings to go on" because of the "appalling behaviours" of police officers seen in a videotape presented in court.
In a transcript of his Oct. 27 oral decision released Wednesday, Lajoie ruled that while the accused had been drinking when she was arrested, there was "no evidence that Ms Bonds was a threat to herself or anyone else" and so there was no grounds to detain her.
Bonds's detention and subsequent strip-search was a "clear violation" of her rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Lajoie ruled.
Lajoie said the video shows Bonds — who is "not being one hundred per cent compliant" — receive "two extremely violent knee hits in the back."
Bonds is then forced to the ground, where a police officer cuts off her shirt and bra with scissors "with the assistance of at least three male officers," Lajoie said.
There was "no reasonable explanation" for the strip-search, Lajoie said. "It is more than evident that the search at 474 Elgin [Street] was an extremely serious breach of Ms. Bonds' rights."
Matthew Webber, Bonds's lawyer, thanked Lajoie.
"At the station we have the police officers not only assaulting my client, but we have the police engaging in a strip search which is in clear contravention of the Supreme Court of Canada's directions as to when you can engage in a strip search," Webber told CBC News.
"It's a lack of knowledge. It's a lack of training."
Police launch internal investigation
Ottawa police Chief Vern White, reached in Kingston, Ont. by telephone, promised a swift internal investigation into the treatment Bonds received. Like other Ontario police chiefs, White said, he would like more power to discipline officers.
"I do not feel our discipline process today carries the full weight of accountability the public expects," White said. "Most of the chiefs have identified to the province that we need to have some changes in the Police Services Act."
White said the current act makes it difficult to suspend or dismiss police officers, and even those dismissed may remain on the payroll if they choose to appeal.
Webber suggested the officers involved should be fired.
"Perhaps they should not have those jobs; perhaps they cannot be trusted to have those jobs," he said.
Webber said the incident has shaken Bonds's confidence in the police and she is considering launching a lawsuit against the Ottawa Police Service
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/11/17/ottawa-strip-search-117.html#ixzz15bsNYYmH
Stacy Bonds, 27, was arrested on Rideau Street in September 2008 and charged with public intoxication.
Justice Richard Lajoie of the Ontario court of justice stayed the charge against Bonds, ruling it would be a "travesty to permit these proceedings to go on" because of the "appalling behaviours" of police officers seen in a videotape presented in court.
In a transcript of his Oct. 27 oral decision released Wednesday, Lajoie ruled that while the accused had been drinking when she was arrested, there was "no evidence that Ms Bonds was a threat to herself or anyone else" and so there was no grounds to detain her.
Bonds's detention and subsequent strip-search was a "clear violation" of her rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Lajoie ruled.
Lajoie said the video shows Bonds — who is "not being one hundred per cent compliant" — receive "two extremely violent knee hits in the back."
Bonds is then forced to the ground, where a police officer cuts off her shirt and bra with scissors "with the assistance of at least three male officers," Lajoie said.
There was "no reasonable explanation" for the strip-search, Lajoie said. "It is more than evident that the search at 474 Elgin [Street] was an extremely serious breach of Ms. Bonds' rights."
Matthew Webber, Bonds's lawyer, thanked Lajoie.
"At the station we have the police officers not only assaulting my client, but we have the police engaging in a strip search which is in clear contravention of the Supreme Court of Canada's directions as to when you can engage in a strip search," Webber told CBC News.
"It's a lack of knowledge. It's a lack of training."
Police launch internal investigation
Ottawa police Chief Vern White, reached in Kingston, Ont. by telephone, promised a swift internal investigation into the treatment Bonds received. Like other Ontario police chiefs, White said, he would like more power to discipline officers.
"I do not feel our discipline process today carries the full weight of accountability the public expects," White said. "Most of the chiefs have identified to the province that we need to have some changes in the Police Services Act."
White said the current act makes it difficult to suspend or dismiss police officers, and even those dismissed may remain on the payroll if they choose to appeal.
Webber suggested the officers involved should be fired.
"Perhaps they should not have those jobs; perhaps they cannot be trusted to have those jobs," he said.
Webber said the incident has shaken Bonds's confidence in the police and she is considering launching a lawsuit against the Ottawa Police Service
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/11/17/ottawa-strip-search-117.html#ixzz15bsNYYmH
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews defended federal legislation Tuesday that would pave the way to providing the U.S. with personal information about Canadians flying over that country : The U.S. has a legal right to request that information, Toews told a Commons committee.
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews defended federal legislation Tuesday that would pave the way to providing the U.S. with personal information about Canadians flying over that country.
The U.S. has a legal right to request that information, Toews told a Commons committee.
Earlier this year, Canada's major airlines said they would be forced either to break privacy laws or to ignore new American air security rules unless the federal government comes up with a response to U.S. demands for passenger information.
The National Airlines Council of Canada, which represents the four largest Canadian carriers, pleaded with the government to find "a permanent solution" to issues raised by the U.S. Secure Flight program.
The program involves collection of the name, gender and birth date of the approximately five million Canadians who fly through American airspace each year en route to destinations such as the Caribbean, Mexico and South America — even if their planes don't touch the ground in the States.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration would vet the names against security watch lists.
Passengers whose names appear on the list could face anything from extra security screening to being barred from a flight.
Opposition MPs on the Commons transport committee expressed concerns about how Washington might use the information.
Toews assured them the data would be used only for airline security purposes.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/11/16/toews-passenger-information.html#socialcomments#ixzz15VpeuI2M
The U.S. has a legal right to request that information, Toews told a Commons committee.
Earlier this year, Canada's major airlines said they would be forced either to break privacy laws or to ignore new American air security rules unless the federal government comes up with a response to U.S. demands for passenger information.
The National Airlines Council of Canada, which represents the four largest Canadian carriers, pleaded with the government to find "a permanent solution" to issues raised by the U.S. Secure Flight program.
The program involves collection of the name, gender and birth date of the approximately five million Canadians who fly through American airspace each year en route to destinations such as the Caribbean, Mexico and South America — even if their planes don't touch the ground in the States.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration would vet the names against security watch lists.
Passengers whose names appear on the list could face anything from extra security screening to being barred from a flight.
Opposition MPs on the Commons transport committee expressed concerns about how Washington might use the information.
Toews assured them the data would be used only for airline security purposes.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/11/16/toews-passenger-information.html#socialcomments#ixzz15VpeuI2M
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Toronto's Police Chief Bill Blair wants to keep some of the equipment bought expressly for the G20 Summit, particularly security cameras and so-called long range acoustic devices.
Toronto's Police Chief Bill Blair wants to keep some of the equipment bought expressly for the G20 Summit, particularly security cameras and so-called long range acoustic devices.
"We have some requirement for CCTV cameras in certain neighbourhoods that are experiencing some violence and difficulty," Blair said Monday outside a Toronto Police Services Board meeting.
The police acquired 77 new cameras for use downtown for the June 26-27 G20 Summit in the downtown core. The cameras had to come down after the summit.
The cameras had to come down after the summit.
At the January Police Services Board meeting, Blair will formally ask to keep the cameras. Because they were purchased for the G20, they will only cost half the usual price. The federal government will pay the rest, CTV Toronto reported.
The cost to the service would be $90,000.
If the police do get to acquire the 52 new cameras, it would bring the total number to 76. Police would not be able to deploy the cameras immediately.
The police also acquired four Long Range Acoustic Devices for the summit. The LRADs, as they are also known, are used for crowd control.
Blair would like to keep three for the police (one for the marine unit), with the fourth possibly going to Toronto Fire.
G20 expenses
The total bill for the summit isn't yet known. A second summit, the G8, also occurred in the cottage country city of Huntsville on June 25-26.
The preliminary bill, as of early November, is at least $860 million. Of that, total security costs are $676 million.
According to Blair, the federal government's late decision to move the G20 summit to downtown Toronto's Metro Convention Centre meant there was no time to seek competitive bids for items such as hotel rooms, meals and riot equipment.
The city and the police board approved the service's skirting of normal procurement procedures.
The costs include:
radio rentals - $4.6 million
cameras and fibre optics - $1.1 million
detention centre lease - $1.7 million
Hotel rooms for police are expected to cost more than $5 million.
Blair said the expenditures will still come in under the budgeted figure of $124.8 million, saying it will come in around $76 million.
To put that number in context, the city budgeted $888 million to provide policing services this year, the largest single item in Toronto's operating budget.
A full accounting of G20 policing costs for Toronto will be presented at the January police services board meeting.
It is anticipated the federal government will cover the costs incurred by Toronto police.
"We have some requirement for CCTV cameras in certain neighbourhoods that are experiencing some violence and difficulty," Blair said Monday outside a Toronto Police Services Board meeting.
The police acquired 77 new cameras for use downtown for the June 26-27 G20 Summit in the downtown core. The cameras had to come down after the summit.
The cameras had to come down after the summit.
At the January Police Services Board meeting, Blair will formally ask to keep the cameras. Because they were purchased for the G20, they will only cost half the usual price. The federal government will pay the rest, CTV Toronto reported.
The cost to the service would be $90,000.
If the police do get to acquire the 52 new cameras, it would bring the total number to 76. Police would not be able to deploy the cameras immediately.
The police also acquired four Long Range Acoustic Devices for the summit. The LRADs, as they are also known, are used for crowd control.
Blair would like to keep three for the police (one for the marine unit), with the fourth possibly going to Toronto Fire.
G20 expenses
The total bill for the summit isn't yet known. A second summit, the G8, also occurred in the cottage country city of Huntsville on June 25-26.
The preliminary bill, as of early November, is at least $860 million. Of that, total security costs are $676 million.
According to Blair, the federal government's late decision to move the G20 summit to downtown Toronto's Metro Convention Centre meant there was no time to seek competitive bids for items such as hotel rooms, meals and riot equipment.
The city and the police board approved the service's skirting of normal procurement procedures.
The costs include:
radio rentals - $4.6 million
cameras and fibre optics - $1.1 million
detention centre lease - $1.7 million
Hotel rooms for police are expected to cost more than $5 million.
Blair said the expenditures will still come in under the budgeted figure of $124.8 million, saying it will come in around $76 million.
To put that number in context, the city budgeted $888 million to provide policing services this year, the largest single item in Toronto's operating budget.
A full accounting of G20 policing costs for Toronto will be presented at the January police services board meeting.
It is anticipated the federal government will cover the costs incurred by Toronto police.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Iceland Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland launch spy inquiry in to US counter-surveillance programme.
Iceland launches US spy inquiry
The Icelandic government has become the latest Nordic country to open an inquiry into whether its citizens are being spied on by the US embassy.
Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland are already investigating whether US embassies are acting illegally.
The allegations began when Norwegian TV claimed protesters were photographed and their names added to a database.
The US says it runs a legal counter-surveillance programme in response to security threats to its embassies.
Although US embassy officials in Reykjavik have denied any espionage is taking place, Iceland's ministry of justice says it has asked the national police commissioner to carry out a fact-finding inquiry.
The ministry said it was responding to revelations in Scandinavia "that US embassies conducted surveillance inside the countries without permission from state authorities".
US officials say they stand ready to discuss the matter "in government to government channels".
East African attacks
US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley explained in Washington earlier this week that counter-terrorism measures related to attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania 12 years ago in which 250 people died.
"We have acknowledged that we have a programme around the world where we are alert for people who may be surveilling our embassies because we recognise that they are potential targets of terrorism," he said.
But the report on Norway's TV2 channel claiming that hundreds of Norwegians had been monitored by former police and armed forces personnel alarmed neighbouring countries.
Sweden's Justice Minister Beatrice Ask has claimed that people linked to the US embassy in Stockholm have performed surveillance since 2000 without fully informing Swedish authorities.
She has described the revelations as "very serious".
Her Danish counterpart Lars Barfoed said that security police would meet US embassy officials in Copenhagen to ensure no laws were being
The Icelandic government has become the latest Nordic country to open an inquiry into whether its citizens are being spied on by the US embassy.
Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland are already investigating whether US embassies are acting illegally.
The allegations began when Norwegian TV claimed protesters were photographed and their names added to a database.
The US says it runs a legal counter-surveillance programme in response to security threats to its embassies.
Although US embassy officials in Reykjavik have denied any espionage is taking place, Iceland's ministry of justice says it has asked the national police commissioner to carry out a fact-finding inquiry.
The ministry said it was responding to revelations in Scandinavia "that US embassies conducted surveillance inside the countries without permission from state authorities".
US officials say they stand ready to discuss the matter "in government to government channels".
East African attacks
US State Department spokesman PJ Crowley explained in Washington earlier this week that counter-terrorism measures related to attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania 12 years ago in which 250 people died.
"We have acknowledged that we have a programme around the world where we are alert for people who may be surveilling our embassies because we recognise that they are potential targets of terrorism," he said.
But the report on Norway's TV2 channel claiming that hundreds of Norwegians had been monitored by former police and armed forces personnel alarmed neighbouring countries.
Sweden's Justice Minister Beatrice Ask has claimed that people linked to the US embassy in Stockholm have performed surveillance since 2000 without fully informing Swedish authorities.
She has described the revelations as "very serious".
Her Danish counterpart Lars Barfoed said that security police would meet US embassy officials in Copenhagen to ensure no laws were being
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