Thanks to Golden Age of Gaia.
A woman walks past a banner supporting Edward Snowden in Hong Kong. Photograph: Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images
Stephen Cook: Amazing that the story of these US charges has taken almost a week to become public knowledge (via The Washington Post) but it’s not surprising, given its stance against all forms of control – be it by the big banks or the Eurozone, that Iceland is now touted as a possible safe haven for Snowden.
US Files Criminal Charges Against NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden
Charges include theft of government property and unauthorised communication of national defence information
Agencies in Washington DC, The Guardian – June 22, 2013
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/22/us-charging-edward-snowden-with-espionage
The US has filed espionage charges against the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and reports say authorities have requested that Hong Kong detain him for extradition. Legislators in Hong Kong responded by calling for mainland China to intervene in the case.
Snowden, 29, is charged with theft of government property, unauthorised communication of national defence information and wilful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorised person, according to court documents.
Snowden is reported to be in hiding in Hong Kong. The Washington Post said the US had asked the autonomous Chinese territory to detain the former NSA contractor on a provisional arrest warrent, while other reports cited US officials as saying preparations were being made to seek his extradition.
One Hong Kong legislator, Leung Kwok-hung, said Beijing should instruct Hong Kong to protect Snowden from extradition before the case was dragged through the court system. Leung also urged the people of Hong Kong to “take to the streets to protect Snowden”. Another lawmaker, Cyd Ho, vice-chair of the pro-democracy Labour party, said China “should now make its stance clear to the Hong Kong SAR [special administrative region] government”.
US prosecutors have 60 days to file an indictment and can then take steps to secure Snowden’s extradition from Hong Kong for a criminal trial in the US. Snowden would be able to challenge the request for his extradition in court in Hong Kong.
The US extradition treaty with Hong Kong has an exception for political offences, which might include espionage.
Kristinn Hrafnsson, an Icelandic businessman linked to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, said on Thursday he had readied a private plane in China to fly Snowden to Iceland if Iceland’s government would grant asylum. Iceland refused on Friday to say whether it would grant asylum to Snowden.
The complaint against Snowden was filed at the federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia where Snowden’s former employer, government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, is headquartered. The complaint is dated 14 June, five days after Snowden was first revealed as the leaker.
The US and Hong Kong have a standing agreement on the surrender of fugitives. However, Snowden’s appeal rights could drag out any extradition proceeding. The success or failure also depends on what the suspect is charged with under US law and how it corresponds to Hong Kong law. In order for Hong Kong officials to honour the extradition request they have to have some applicable statute under their law that corresponds with a violation of US law.
Advocacy organisation the Government Accountability Project said Snowden should be shielded from prosecution by whistleblower protection laws.
“He disclosed information about a secret programme that he reasonably believed to be illegal, and his actions alone brought about the long-overdue national debate about the proper balance between privacy and civil liberties, on the one hand, and national security on the other,” the group said in a statement.
Olafur Vignir Sigurvinsson pic: Demotix
Icelandic Businessman Says Plane Ready to Take Snowden to Iceland
By Reuters reporters, Reykjavik – June 21, 2013
(Reuters) – An Icelandic businessman linked to WikiLeaks said he has readied a private plane to take Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who exposed secret U.S. surveillance programs, to Iceland if the government grants him asylum.
“We have made everything ready at our end now we only have to wait for confirmation from the (Icelandic) Interior Ministry,” Olafur Vignir Sigurvinsson told Reuters. He is a former director of DataCell, a company which processed payments for WikiLeaks.
“A private jet is in place in China and we could fly Snowden over tomorrow if we get positive reaction from the Interior Ministry. We need to get confirmation of asylum and that he will not be extradited to the U.S. We would most want him to get a citizenship as well,” Sigurvinsson said.
Neither a WikiLeaks spokesman nor the Icelandic government were immediately available for comment.
Snowden, a former employee of contractor Booz Allen Hamilton who worked in an NSA facility in Hawaii, made world headlines this month after providing details of the programs to the Guardian and Washington Post and fleeing to Hong Kong.
Earlier this week, WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said a middleman had approached him on behalf of Snowden to seek asylum in Iceland.
The Icelandic government, which has declined to say whether they would grant asylum to Snowden, confirmed it had received the message from Hrafnsson.
Birgitta Jonsdottir, a lawmaker for the Pirate Party in Iceland which campaigns for Internet freedom, said the only way for Snowden to travel to the Nordic country would be to have Icelandic citizenship.
Snowden has mentioned Iceland as a possible refuge.
Iceland has a reputation for promoting Internet freedoms, but Snowden has said he did not travel there immediately from the United States because he feared the country of 320,000 could be pressured by Washington.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning over allegations of sex offences, visited Iceland several times in the run-up to some of the website’s major releases. Assange denies any wrongdoing.
WikiLeaks and DataCell won a ruling this year in Iceland’s Supreme Court against MasterCard’s local partner.
The court upheld a lower court’s ruling that the payment card company had illegally ended its contract with the website. WikiLeaks’ funding had been squeezed without the ability to accept card payments.
