Reykjavík Grapevine - 24.05.2019, Síða 6

Lýsi is the name
for fish liver oil,
typically from cod,
but occasionally
shark. While it’s
true that lýsi is
rich in Omega 3,
the list of ailments
it is reputed
to cure is long,
ever-growing, and
often dubious.
What used to be
a fortifying and
natural Vitamin D
supplement that
was poured into
the mouths of
school children as
they sat at their
desks (yes, really)
has now taken on
a life of its own.
Once lýsi be-
came available in
pill form, it started
being marketed
as an essential kit
of good health for
children, athletes
and the elderly.
This marketing
worked a little
too well, as it was
reported in 2014
that Icelanders
take far more than
the recommended
daily dosage of
the stuff. Further,
the lýsi inside the
pills was found in
2012 to often be
rancid, and thus
totally ineffective.
Lýsi can be
good for you,
though, provided
you take it the
right way and in
the right amounts.
You should take
it in liquid form,
and no more than
two teaspoons per
day (one teaspoon
for children
under five). If the
flavour makes you
squeamish, hold
your nose as you
drink it and chase
it with a strongly-
flavoured drink,
like fruit juice. In
addition to the
nutritional ben-
efits, it’s a taste
that is distinctly
Icelandic. You
should definitely
try it at least once,
anyway. AF
Lý
si
The glitter has settled into the carpet
at last: Eurovision is over, and with
it, anti-capitalist neo-Hoxhaist tech-
noclash BDSM art rockers Hatari have
returned to our fair shores.
After receiving both praise and criti-
cism for flashing scarves stylised after
the Palestinian flag during the live
Eurovision broadcast, while the public
votes for Iceland were being announced,
the controversy has followed the band
all the way back to Iceland. Drummer
Einar Hrafn Stefánsson posted screen-
shots of Tel Aviv airport employees
bragging on social media about having
deliberately booked terrible seats for
the band on their flight home.
The rollercoaster
Regardless, after a seven-hour layover
at London’s Heathrow airport, the band
and its entourage arrived at Keflavík
International Airport late on May 20th.
There to greet them was Magnús
Geir Þorðarson, the programming
director at public broadcasting
company RÚV, whose decision it was
to send someone from Iceland to Israel
despite widespread public opposition.
“We know that this was quite a roll-
ercoaster,” Magnús told the band. “You
were under pressure from all sides. We
at home followed along with admira-
tion, a bit scared that you might in
some way lose control of yourselves,
but you kept it together.”
Consequences
The only statement from the Israeli
government about Hatari at the time
of this writing has been remarks
from Miri Regev, Israel’s Minister of
Culture and Sport, who told reporters
that Hatari’s performance had been
“a mistake,” adding that politics and
culture should not mix. Meanwhile, the
European Broadcasting Union (EBU),
Eurovision’s organisers, said that the
Palestinian scarf incident may have
consequences.
EBU had previously warned Hatari
that their repeated public statements
to the press about the Israeli occu-
pation of Palestinian territory had
exhausted the patience of Eurovision,
so the response is unsurprising. What
consequences may arise still have yet to
be seen.
Hatari Come Home
Happy to be back;
consequences for flag incident pending
Words:
Andie Fontaine

Photo:
Gísli Berg
First
Anyone who’s ever watched a cop
show or courtroom drama from the
US is likely very familiar with the con-
cept of “pleading the fifth,” i.e., the
right to refuse to incriminate your-
self in any answer to questions from
a police officer or the courts. In other
words, neither cops nor courts can
make you say things that could get
you in legal trouble. It’s a fundamen-
tal right enshrined in the US constitu-
tion, and can also be found in many
other countries in the world, includ-
ing the UK, China and India. But what
about Iceland?
We asked lawyer and Grape-
vine founding member Jón Trausti
Sigurðarson for the scoop. He con-
firmed that you can indeed refuse to
incriminate yourself, by virtue of two
separate articles of the Law on Legal
Proceedings:
“According to Article 118 of the
law, ‘A witness has the right to refuse
to answer questions if the answer
could be taken to be a confession or
indication that they have committed
a prosecutable offense, or an event
that may cause ethical harm or emo-
tional damage.’
“The above applies to witnesses in
general. A different article applies if
you’re the accused, but the concept
is the same. This can be found in Ar-
ticle 113, Paragraph 2, which states:
‘The accused is not obliged to answer
questions regarding prosecutable
behaviour of which they are accused.
They may also refuse to give a state-
ment about prosecutable offenses
or refuse to answer particular ques-
tions, for that matter.’”
Granted, saying “I plead the 113th”
doesn’t have the same ring to the
popular American equivalent, but at
least you now know this right applies
in Iceland, too.
ASK A
Lawyer
Q: Can you “plead the
fifth” in Iceland?
6 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 08— 2019
FOOD OF ICELAND
NEWS
Words: Andie Fontaine
Photo: Sveinbjörn Pálsson
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