Posts
Apart from my personal excitement and delight that Mr. Snowden has escaped the tender mercies of the US regime this shows to the world (and even the BBC pointed this out),that US power is much reduced.
Snowden
leaves Hong Kong 'on his own will', seeks asylum in Ecuador
Cyberspying
whistle-blower leaves Hong Kong on flight to Russia just hours after
the United States asked city authorities to detain him
26
January, 2013
Whistle-blower
Edward Snowden arrived in Moscow yesterday, to seek asylum in
Ecuador, after abruptly leaving Hong Kong in a dramatic blow to US
efforts to put him on trial for espionage.
Snowden
left on a flight for the Russian capital just hours after the United
States had asked Hong Kong authorities to detain the 30-year-old and
shortly after the release of court documents in the US detailing some
of the charges he would face there.
Two
weeks after breaking cover in Hong Kong, the former CIA technician is
believed to have boarded Aeroflot flight SU213 shortly after 11am,
landing at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport 10 hours
later. It was reported there that he would catch a connecting flight
to a third country.
Russian
news agency Interfax said Snowden did not leave the airport with the
other passengers. It reported that he would spend the night in the
airport's transit zone because he did not have a visa to enter Russia
and had rented a room in a capsule hotel.
There
was no immediate official confirmation of where he would head next,
but Russian media reports citing sources in Aeroflot said he would
fly to Cuba today and then board a flight to Caracas, the Venezuelan
capital.
WikiLeaks,
the anti-secrecy group said on its website: "He is bound for the
Republic of Ecuador via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and
is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisers from WikiLeaks."
Ecuador's
foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, said from Vietnam on Twitter that
his government had received a request from Snowden for asylum.
It
is understood that Snowden's departure has come as a relief to the
Hong Kong government, which would have faced lengthy court
proceedings if Snowden had contested any extradition attempt. The
departure also united the Legislative Council's pro-democracy and
pro-Beijing camps, who said it was the right thing for him to do.
Government
sources said media reports that Hong Kong police had provided Snowden
with a "safe house" were wrong and that no help or
protection had been given to him.
Nevertheless,
the decision to allow Snowden to leave "on his own accord"
is expected to strain diplomatic relations between the city and the
US after Washington warned Hong Kong not to drag its feet in such a
high-profile case.
WikiLeaks
confirmed it had helped Snowden find "asylum in a democratic
country". Baltasar Garzon, its legal director and lawyer for its
co-founder Julian Assange, said it was "interested in preserving
Snowden's rights and protecting him as a person".
The
Hong Kong government's announcement that Snowden left the city "for
a third country" and "through a lawful and normal channel"
was its first official announcement on the case. It rejected a
request from the US to issue a warrant for Snowden's arrest, because
its evidence had failed to "fully comply with the legal
requirements under Hong Kong law".
Justice
officials had asked for more evidence from the US to trigger any
police action but Snowden was free to leave after this was not
received.
Hong
Kong also made clear its intentions to investigate the claims made by
Snowden that computers in the city were compromised by agents working
for the National Security Agency.
Sources
said Washington had revoked Snowden's US passport. A senior US
official said: "We have little idea how he left Hong Kong."
As
Snowden was travelling between Hong Kong and Moscow, speculation was
rife as to which country would be his ultimate destination, with
Iceland also mentioned as contenders. The arrival of cars from
Ecuador's diplomatic mission at the Moscow airport heightened
speculation that Snowden would go to that country, which has also
granted asylum to Assange.
Meanwhile,
Beijing said it was "gravely concerned about the recent
disclosure of US-related institutions hacking into China's internet".
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying , in a statement on the
ministry's website, said: "We have already filed a diplomatic
complaint with the US."
NSA
leaker Snowden arrives in Moscow en route to 'third country' with
WikiLeaks help
The plane carrying whistleblower Edward Snowden has landed at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport. The former CIA contractor, who left Hong Kong in a bid to elude US extradition on espionage charges, is on his way to a ‘third country’ via Russia.
RT,
23 June, 2013
Ecuador’s
Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino announced via twitter that Snowden
had applied
for asylum.
Interfax
news agency is citing an unnamed source in Sheremetyevo airport
management, saying that Snowden is still at the airport.
"Snowden
is a transit passenger, his next flight is to Cuba, he remains in the
airport complex – where he’s supposed to be, waiting for the next
flight,"
the source said.
A source at Aeroflot Russian Airlines told the
agency that the whistleblower, who is accompanied by WikiLeaks
representative, Sarah Harrison, has rented a suit at the airport’s
«V-Express» Capsule Hotel.
“He
arrived. But he can’t leave the terminal because he doesn’t have
a Russian visa,”
the source said.
Two cars with diplomatic license plates of
Ecuador – the country named among Snowden’s possible destinations
– were spotted at Sheremetyevo airport.
Ecuador’s
ambassador to Russia, Patricio Chavez, arrived at Sheremetyevo
Airport after Edward Snowden's plane touched down in Moscow.
waiting
for #Snowden
-- a crowd of journos and confused passengers #wikileaks
#cia
pic.twitter.com/r8vM1RsKXM
75
РЕТВИТОВ 13
ИЗБРАННЫХ
WikiLeaks
founder, Julian Assange, told Australian Sydney Morning Herald paper
that Snowden will be met by “diplomats
from the country that will be his ultimate destination”
in the airport, who’ll accompany him on a further flight to his
final destination.
Two
cars of the embassy of Ecuador in Moscow are parked outside the
terminal where Edward Snowden, the former contractor for the U.S.
National Security Agency, is believed to have landed in Moscow's
Sheremetyevo airport, June 23, 2013. (Reuters / Maxim Shemetov)
Earlier
on Sunday, a spokesperson from the Hong Kong government confirmed
that Edward Snowden had "legally
and voluntarily"
left the country.
“Mr.
Edward Snowden left Hong Kong today (June 23) on his own accord for a
third country through a lawful and normal channel,” said
the Hong Kong government in a press release.
The statement also said
the documents for Snowden’s extradition submitted by
Washington “did not
fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law.”
“As
the HKSAR Government has yet to have sufficient information to
process the request for a provisional warrant of arrest, there is no
legal basis to restrict Mr. Snowden from leaving Hong Kong.”
Media
reports that Snowden's passport was revoked on Saturday, which makes
it unclear how he was able to depart from Hong Kong.
US State
department spokesperson, Jen Psaki, said that passport revocation
is "routine and
consistent with US regulations" towards
persons with felony arrest warrants.
"Persons
wanted on felony charges, such as Mr. Snowden, should not be allowed
to proceed in any further international travel, other than is
necessary to return him to the US," she
added.
WikiLeaks
legal aid
Whistleblowing
organization WikiLeaks has rallied behind Snowden and said they are
assisting him in his bid for political asylum in a “democratic
country.”
The group announced on Twitter that they helped obtain “travel
documents”
and ensured his safe exit from Hong Kong. Diplomats and legal
advisors from WikiLeak's legal team were also accompanying the NSA
leaker on his flight to Moscow, WikiLeaks said in a statement.
FLASH:
Mr. Snowden is currently over Russian airspace accompanied by
WikiLeaks legal advisors.
1 516
РЕТВИТОВ 261
ИЗБРАННОЕ
A
source from Aeroflot told Interfax that Snowden took flight SU213 to
Moscow.
Russian
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov said the
Kremlin was unaware of Snowden’s plans to fly to Moscow. The US has
filed an extradition order against Snowden for espionage, theft and
conversion of government property.
It
is understood that Moscow will not be Snowden’s final destination,
he could potentially fly on to Ecuador or Iceland where he is
expected to seek asylum through an intermediary. A diplomatic source
told the Russian news agency Itar-Tass that no request for asylum in
Russia had been received from the former CIA employee.
The
arrival of Snowden in Iceland is “highly
unlikely”,
the head of Icelandic prime minister’s press-service, Johannes
Skulason, told Interfax news agency, adding that the country’s
government has no information on the whistleblower's whereabouts.
According to Icelandic law, a person has to be in the country in
order to apply for political asylum there.
Citing
a source close to Snowden, Russian news agency Interfax reported that
the whistleblower’s final destination will be Venezuela with a
transfer in Havana, Cuba. He will reportedly be on flight SU150
to Havana, leaving Moscow on Monday and then on flight V-04101 to
Caracas.
“He
chose such a complicated route in the hope that he would not be
arrested on the way to his final destination of Venezuela,”
the source told Interfax.
The
US will seek cooperation with governments of countries where Snowden
may go, Justice Department Spokeswoman Nanda Chitre stated on Sunday.
“We
will continue to discuss this matter with Hong Kong and pursue
relevant law enforcement cooperation with other countries where Mr.
Snowden may be attempting to travel,” she
said, as cited by Reuters.
'More
whistleblowers will follow'
The
emergence of whistleblowers like Julian Assange, Bradley Manning and
now Edward Snowden means the world will have an increasingly
clearer view of the actual state of affairs, Pepe Escobar, an Asia
Times correspondent in Hong Kong told RT.
“Definitely,
we’re going to have a collection of Assanges, Mannings and Snowdens
from now on, especially from the US tech geeks who are extremely
uncomfortable with this Orwellian panopticon surveillance thing: not
only in the US as we’ve seen some revelations on Britain as well.
It is an Anglo-American thing.
Of course everybody is involved in
cyber wars, but the forefront is the US,”
Escobar argues.
Don
Debar, an anti-war activist and journalist, believes that Snowden’s
actions will encourage more whistleblowers to come out.
“You
have Bradley Manning and they throw him on ice, basically naked in a
cell for a couple of years and threaten him with the death penalty.
After him you have Assange and now you have Snowden and I only hope
more will come out and people will start to listen here in the United
States and do something about it.”
Ecuador
has received asylum request from NSA whistleblower Snowden - FM
Patino
The
former CIA contractor, Edward Snowden, has asked Ecuador for
political asylum, the country’s foreign minister, Ricardo Patino
Aroca, wrote on Twitter. The whistleblower is now in Moscow after
fleeing Hong Kong in a bid to elude US extradition.
RT,
23
June, 2013
According
to Interfax news agency, Snowden, who is accompanied by WikiLeaks
representative, Sarah Harrison, has rented a suit at the airport’s
«V-Express» Capsule Hotel. If he’s going to fly to Ecuador it
won’t happen until Monday, June 24.
“Mr
Edward Snowden, the American whistleblower who exposed evidence of a
global surveillance regime conducted by US and UK intelligence
agencies, has left Hong Kong legally,” a statement by the WikiLeaks
said. “He is bound for the Republic of Ecuador via a safe route for
the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal
advisors from WikiLeaks.”
The
statement added that when the whistleblower arrives in Ecuador, his
asylum request “will be formally processed”.
Snowden
left Hong Kong for Moscow on Sunday, despite the media claiming that
his US passport has been revoked a day before.
US
State department spokesperson, Jen Psaki, said that passport
revocation is "routine and consistent with US regulations"
towards persons with felony arrest warrants.
"Persons
wanted on felony charges, such as Mr. Snowden, should not be allowed
to proceed in any further international travel, other than is
necessary to return him to the US," she added.
The
Russian capital is considered a transit point en route to a third
country for the former NSA contractor, who exposed a top-secret US
National Security Agency’s PRISM surveillance program to the media
and is now accused of espionage, theft and conversion of government
property.
Ecuador
and Iceland were initially named as Snowden’s most likely
destinations. Later the news appeared that he was going to fly to
Venezuela via Cuba.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.