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M. Continuo

Icelandic interior minister quits after immigration scandal


    REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Iceland's minister of the interior quit on Friday after her assistant was convicted last week of illegally leaking information about an asylum seeker to media a year ago.

    Gisli Freyr Valdorsson had admitted to leaking information about Nigerian Tony Omos, who was due to be deported last year when a protest began to keep him in the country, and was given a two year suspended sentence.

    "According to the information that is now available, it is clear that my assistant acted illegally without my knowledge. He worked under my political authority and I trusted him," Interior Minister Hanna Birna said in a statement.

    It was not immediately clear who will replace her.

    The North Atlantic island of 320,000 people had 79 refugees and 279 asylum seekers as of January 2014, according to UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency.

    (Reporting by Ragnhildur Siguroardottir; Writing by Sabina Zawadzki; Editing by Louise Ireland)