IG Anonymous announced their opposition to whaling

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Iceland has continued whaling despite signing up to an international ban. The sites went down on Friday and did not go back online until around noon on Saturday. Activists linked to Anonymous - who are famous for making announcements wearing ‘Guy Fawkes’ masks - published screenshots showing the sites were down on Friday evening.

GETTY IMAGES Whaling in Iceland

Iceland is a member of the International Whaling Commission

The sites include the official website of Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugson as well as the North Atlantic nation’s interior and environment departments. Iceland is a member of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), an inter-governmental body which imposed a ban on all commercial whaling in 1986.

IG Anonymous is perhaps the world's most notorious 'hacktivist' group

The moratorium remains in place, but both Iceland and Norway continue to hunt whales. As a relatively remote island, whaling has always been a vital part of the Icelandic economy. But animal rights activists condemn the trade. Japan is also defying a ban on whaling and today sets sail to slaughter the animals, which, Japanese whalers claim, are needed for scientific research.

IG Whaling in Iceland