diff --git a/speeches/importers/import_akomantoso.py b/speeches/importers/import_akomantoso.py
index 707355b7..63886999 100644
--- a/speeches/importers/import_akomantoso.py
+++ b/speeches/importers/import_akomantoso.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ class ImportAkomaNtoso(ImporterBase):
 
     def import_document(self, document_path):
         if document_path.startswith('http'):
-            self.xml = objectify.fromstring(requests.get(document_path).content)
+            self.xml = objectify.fromstring(requests.get(document_path, verify=self.verify).content)
         else:
             self.xml = objectify.parse(document_path).getroot()
         self.ns = self.xml.nsmap.get(None, None)
diff --git a/speeches/importers/import_base.py b/speeches/importers/import_base.py
index 9026b600..70fd482f 100644
--- a/speeches/importers/import_base.py
+++ b/speeches/importers/import_base.py
@@ -3,11 +3,12 @@
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
-class ImporterBase (object):
-    def __init__(self, instance=None, commit=True, clobber=None, **kwargs):
+class ImporterBase(object):
+    def __init__(self, instance=None, commit=True, clobber=None, verify=True, **kwargs):
         self.instance = instance
         self.commit = commit
         self.clobber = clobber
+        self.verify = verify
         self.speakers = {}
 
         self.stats = {}
diff --git a/speeches/management/import_commands.py b/speeches/management/import_commands.py
index 02e1a64a..30318f84 100644
--- a/speeches/management/import_commands.py
+++ b/speeches/management/import_commands.py
@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@ class ImportCommand(BaseCommand):
         make_option('--instance', action='store', help='Label of instance to add data to'),
         make_option('--file', action='store', help='document to import'),
         make_option('--dir', action='store', help='directory of documents to import'),
+        make_option(
+            '--no-verify', action='store_false', default=True, dest='verify',
+            help='Whether to verify SSL certificates or not'),
         make_option(
             '--start-date', action='store', default='',
             help='earliest date to process, in yyyy-mm-dd format'),
diff --git a/speeches/tests/importer_tests.py b/speeches/tests/importer_tests.py
index 6c7f27bb..12a325bc 100644
--- a/speeches/tests/importer_tests.py
+++ b/speeches/tests/importer_tests.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 
 
 class FakeRequestsOutput(object):
-    def __init__(self, source):
+    def __init__(self, source, verify=True):
         assert source.startswith('http://example.com/')
 
         # We'll put things that would have been served from a url ending