Bolivian president offers asylum to NSA leaker Snowden
Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, Bolivian President Evo Morales
By Daniel Arkin, Staff Writer, NBC News
The
president of Bolivia joined a group of South American countries that
have indicated they would offer asylum to fugitive NSA leaker Edward
Snowden, who is believed to be hiding inside the transit zone of
Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport as the United States continues efforts to
have him extradited.
Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela and Daniel Ortega
of Nicaragua said Friday they would grant safe haven to the former
National Security Agency contractor.
Evo Morales of Bolivia made his offer Saturday, three days
after a plane carrying the leftist leader over Europe was rerouted amid
reports that Snowden was aboard,
setting off a diplomatic storm that heightened tensions between the U.S. and the South American nation.
Venezuela "decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young American
Edward Snowden" so he can live without "persecution from the empire,"
Maduro said, referring to the United States. He extended the invitation
to Snowden during a speech Friday commemorating the anniversary of
Venezuela's independence, according to the Associated Press.
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Iceland lawmakers discuss citizenship for Snowden
By JENNA GOTTLIEB Associated Press
Updated:
07/04/2013 06:04:18 PM EDT
REYKJAVIK,
Iceland—Icelandic lawmakers introduced a proposal in Parliament on
Thursday to grant immediate citizenship to National Security Agency
leaker Edward Snowden, who admits to revealing key details of U.S.
surveillance activities. Ogmundur Jonasson, whose liberal
Left-Green Party is backing the proposal along with the Pirate Party and
Brighter Future Party, put the issue before the Judicial Affairs
Committee, but the idea received minimal support.
Snowden is
believed to be stuck in a Moscow airport transit area, seeking asylum
from more than a dozen countries. At one point, he told the Guardian
newspaper that he was inclined to seek asylum in a country that shared
his values—and that "the nation that most encompasses this is Iceland."
But to apply for asylum in Iceland, Snowden would have to reach the island nation's soil.
Granting
Snowden immediate citizenship would circumvent that issue. The same
tactic helped get eccentric chess master Bobby Fischer to Iceland from
Japan in 2005 to escape U.S. prosecution for breaking sanctions imposed
on the former Yugoslavia.
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(AP Photo/Kin Cheung). A banner supporting Edward Snowden, a
former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S.
surveillance programs, is displayed at Central, Hong Kong's business
district, Friday, June 21, 2013.
(AP Photo/Kin Cheung). A TV screen shows the news of Edward
Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about
sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, at a shopping mall in Hong Kong
Friday, June 21, 2013.
By JENNA GOTTLIEB
Associated Press
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) - An Icelandic business
executive said Friday that a private plane is on standby to transport
National Security Agency secrets leaker Edward Snowden from Hong Kong to
Iceland.
Olafur Vignir Sigurvinsson said he has not spoken
directly with Snowden but has been in touch with a third party
representing him.
The businessman, who has connections to the
WikiLeaks secret-spilling organization, said he has access to planes in
Hong Kong and mainland China that Snowden could use.
But Iceland's government says it has not received
an asylum request from Snowden, who has revealed his role in providing
secret NSA documents about widespread surveillance programs.
Iceland Interior Ministry spokesman Johannes
Tomasson said Snowden hasn't approached the ministry and could initiate
an asylum request if he was already in Iceland.
When asked about the reports of Sigurvinsson
chartering a private plane to fly Snowden to Iceland, Tomasson said: "We
don't object to that. But we don't have any knowledge other than what
has been in the news. We can't comment any further on that."
U.S. officials have expressed an interest in
prosecuting Snowden for his admitted role in the publication of the
documents. Snowden fled to Hong Kong and is hiding.
Sigurvinsson said that Snowden's potential private flight is being funded by private donations.
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By Michael Snyder, on September 24th, 2013
