What the former Icelandic Minister of the Interior, Ogmundur Jonasson, has to say is quite revealing:
At the end of June 2011, the FBI contacted the Icelandic Ministry of the Interior with information that sensitive Icelandic infrastructures could be under cyberattack.
On August 25, 2011, FBI agents arrived in Iceland. It turned out that the information about cyberattacks was just a pretext, and the FBI was actually seeking a 'collaborator' who was willing to compromise or 'frame' Assange.
Jonasson further speculates that an international dimension was intended to be added to the pursuit of Assange with the help of a European ally.
Jonasson refused, citing 'democratic' reasons, as he puts it.
He emphasizes that the WikiLeaks disclosures had significant democratic value for Iceland and that the public needed to be awakened. In his view (and mine as well), Assange can only be freed through public pressure.
By the way, the FBI employees were expelled from Iceland and continued to Scandinavia."