Iceland's "Government falls in shocking scandal involving one of Iceland's most notorious child abuse cases"

IM:

The reason Bright Future has withdrawn its support for the government is that yesterday the public learned that the father of the Prime Minister, Benedikt Sveinsson, one of the wealthiest men in Iceland, had written a letter on behalf of Hjalti Sigurjón Hauksson, the most notorious child molesters to be sentenced in Icelandic court, asking for his full pardon and that his criminal record to be expunged and "honor restored".

...

The case of two of Iceland's most notorious child molesters who received a full pardon this summer has rattled Icelandic society. The Icelandic public and media have spent much of summer discussing the two cases and the horrifying world of violence and abuse they revealed.

Public suspects a cover-up

One of the two men, who has changed his named to Róbert Downey, had been a prominent attorney before he was sentenced. He had systematically groomed dozens of young girls in difficult social circumstances whom he had singled out as potential victims. The family of one of his victims launched a campaign to answer why this man had been granted a full pardon. This campaign then drew public attention to the pardoning of a second child molester. One of their demands was that it would be revealed who had written letters on behalf of Róbert Downey.

The unwillingness of the government and the Minister of the Interior, as well as the majority of the Judiciary committee of Parliament to support these calls or just take them seriously, was interpreted by many as proof of a cover-up. Not least because the actions and statements of the parliamentary leaders of the Conservative party after the case became front page news alternated between fumbling and arrogance.

A second cover-up