Julian Assange on Edward Snowden

This is the first time we've heard a different story

Pirate Party Norway: - Snowden Passed Through Norway to Iceland
Organization Pirate Party Norway claims that spy accused Edward Snowden landed at Oslo Gardermon airport last night

The Nordic Page,

24 June, 2013

The party leader Øystein Jakobsen would meet with Snowden when he landed on Sunday evening, according to the party’s twitter account.

- We have received information from our international umbrella party, the Pirate Parties International (PPI), that he will stop in Norway. The reason is that this is probably the quickest and easiest way to fly to Iceland, says Tale Østrådal from the Pirate Party to TV2 Norway

Øsrådal also said that Pirate Party in Iceland confirmed Snowden’s stay in the country. Iceland has become a haven for people like him, almost a "Pirate Island," says Østrådal.

The paty leader Jakobsen, on the other hand, thanked the former agent. He has sacrificed his whole life for something he felt wrong. What he has done is exemplary. He has sacrificed a life of freedom to inform the public about a serious infringement, says Jakobsen to TV 2

According to Oslo Gardermoen Airport websites, a flight from Moscow arrived in Oslo at 19.25 on Sunday evening. Bu the press officer of the airport did not give any information aboout the details.

Also, police at the airport told TV 2 that they do not have any information about the case.

About Snowden

Edward Joseph Snowden is a former technical contractor and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, a contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA), before leaking details of classified NSA mass surveillance programs to the press. Snowden shared classified material on a variety of top-secret NSA programs, including the interception of US telephone metadata and the PRISM surveillance program, primarily with Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian, which published a series of exposés based on Snowden’s disclosures in June 2013. Snowden said the leaks were an effort "to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them."

Snowden’s alleged leaks are said to rank among the most significant breaches in the history of the NSA. Matthew M. Aid, an intelligence historian in Washington, said disclosures linked to Snowden have "confirmed longstanding suspicions that NSA’s surveillance in this country is far more intrusive than we knew." On June 14, 2013, US federal prosecutors filed a sealed complaint, made public on June 21,[8][9] charging Snowden with theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified intelligence with an unauthorized person; the latter two allegations are under the Espionage Act.

About Pirate Party Norway

Piratpartiet Norge (Norwegian for The Pirate Party of Norway) is a Norwegian political party which was founded on the 16. December 2012. The basic principles are "full transparency in the state management, privacy on the internet, as well as better use of IT and technology to make a better democracy." On December 17. 2012 they announced that the 5000 signatures required to take part in the next general election had been received. The party is a part of the Pirate Parties International

Assange: Snowden, Manning victims of Obama's war on whistleblowers

Edward Snowden and Wikileaks' Sarah Harrison who is accompanying him are "safe and healthy," Julian Assange said during a conference call broadcast by RT.

"The current status of Mr Snowden and Harrison is that both are healthy and safe and they are in contact with their legal teams," the WikiLeaks founder said. "I cannot give further information as to their whereabouts," Assange added.

"Snowden is not a traitor, he is not a spy he is a whistleblower who told the public the important truth," he pointed out.

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Snowden made other asylum bids: WikiLeaks

Apart from seeking asylum in Ecuador and Iceland leaker Edward Snowden also approached other countries, WikiLeaks says.

SBS,

25 June, 2013

US leaker Edward Snowden may have approached other countries for asylum aside from Ecuador and Iceland, WikiLeaks says.

At the same time the organisation's founder, Julian Assange, on Monday insisted any country that helped Snowden should be applauded regardless of its human rights record.

The Australian was asked by a BBC reporter about the "obvious irony" of seeking assistance from China, Russia and Ecuador given they didn't share WikiLeaks' values of privacy and freedom of speech.

"I simply do not see the irony," Assange told a teleconference from the Ecuadorean embassy in London.

"Any country which assists in upholding his rights must be applauded."

Assange said it was a separate issue if countries didn't share the same values as WikiLeaks.

He turned the critique on its head by stating: "We do not criticise people for seeking refugee status in the United States despite its use of torture, drone strikes ... executive kill lists and so on."

"No one is suggesting countries like Ecuador are engaged in those types of abuses," Assange said.

WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson on Monday reiterated Snowden had requested asylum from Iceland, where he is from, and Ecuador before adding, "But at this point we won't discuss other approaches that were made."

The whistleblowing organisation has funded Snowden's flight from Hong Kong to Moscow paying for his flight, accommodation and legal fees.

Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino says Quito is weighing up Snowden's asylum bid.

Speaking to reporters in Vietnam the minister defended Snowden's actions saying they "shed light" on US practices.

Assange's US attorney Michael Ratner told Monday's teleconference that whistleblowers were protected under the refugee convention.

"The refugee convention protects people who are being persecuted for political opinion (and) whistleblower activities come within that," he said.

"Whistleblowing and the protection under the refugee convention trumps any efforts to extradite Edward Snowden."

Mr Ratner said the former intelligence analyst could have also sought asylum in "big countries" capable of standing up to the US such as China or Russia.

Alternative "independent" options in South America included Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, Venezuela or Ecuador, the attorney said.

The White House has warned the decision to allow Snowden to leave Hong Kong "unquestionably" harmed efforts to build trust in US-China relations.

"This was a deliberate choice by the (Chinese) government to release a fugitive despite a valid arrest warrant, and that decision unquestionably has a negative impact on the relationship," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

But Mr Ratner argued the US is flaunting the principal of "non-interference" when it came to people applying for political asylum.

"There's no legal basis for that," he said.

"Edward Snowden is not a fugitive and there's no (valid) arrest warrant."