President Maduro offers to protect NSA whistleblower 'from
persecution by the empire' and rejects US extradition request.
By Jonathan Watts and agencies
Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua have offered asylum to Edward Snowden, the US whistleblower who is believed to have spent the past two weeks at a Moscow airport evading US attempts to extradite him.
The Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, and his Nicaraguan counterpart, Daniel Ortega, made the asylum offers on Friday, shortly after they and other Latin American leaders met to denounce the diversion of a plane carrying the Bolivian president, Evo Morales, due to suspicions that Snowden might have been on board.
Shortly after, Morales also said Bolivia would grant asylum to Snowden, if asked. On Saturday, Venezuela's offer was given a warm reception by an influential member of the Russian parliament.
In a tweet, Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the Duma foreign affairs committee, said: "Asylum for Snowden in Venezuela would be the best solution."
The invitations from South America came as Snowden sent out new requests for asylum to six countries, in addition to the 20 he has already contacted, according to WikiLeaks, which claims to be in regular contact with the former National Security Agency contractor.
Most of the countries have refused or given technical reasons why an application is not valid, but several Latin American leaders have rallied together with expressions of solidarity and welcome.
"As head of state of the Bolivarian republic of Venezuela, I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young Snowden … to protect this young man from persecution by the empire," said Maduro who, along with his predecessor Hugo Chávez, often refers to the US as "the empire".
The previous day, Maduro told the Telesur TV channel that Venezuela had received an extradition request from the US, which he had already rejected.
A copy of the request, seen by the Guardian, notes that Snowden "unlawfully released classified information and documents to international media outlets" and names the Guardian and the Washington Post. Dated 3 July and sent in English and Spanish, it says: "The United States seeks Snowden's provisional arrest should Snowden seek to travel to or transit through Venezuela. Snowden is a flight risk because of the substantial charges he is facing and his current and active attempts to remain a fugitive."
It adds that he is charged with unauthorised disclosure of national defence information, unauthorised disclosure of classified communication intelligence and theft of government property. Each of these three charges carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.
Describing Snowden as "a fugitive who is currently in Russia", it urges Venezuela to keep him in custody if arrested and to seize all items in his possession for later delivery to the US. It provides a photograph and two alternative passport numbers – one revoked, and one reported lost or stolen.
Maduro said he did not accept the grounds for the charges.
"He has told the truth, in the spirit of rebellion, about the US spying on the whole world," Maduro said in his latest speech. "Who is the guilty one? A young man … who denounces war plans, or the US government which launches bombs and arms the terrorist Syrian opposition against the people and legitimate president, Bashar al-Assad?"
The Bolivian government, which has said it would listen sympathetically to an aslyum request from Snowden, said it too had turned down a pre-emptive US extradition request.
Ortega said Nicaragua had received an asylum request from Snowden and the president gave a guarded acceptance.
"We are an open country, respectful of the right of asylum, and it's clear that if circumstances permit, we would gladly receive Snowden and give him asylum in Nicaragua," Ortega told a gathering in Managua.
So far, the countries that have been most vocal in offering support are close allies of Venezuela. Ecuador has also expressed support for Snowden, though the government there has yet to decide whether it would grant aslyum. It is already providing refuge for the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been in the Ecuadorean embassy in London for about a year.
Many in Latin America were furious when the Bolivian president's flight from Russia was denied airspace by European countries, forcing it to land in Vienna, where Morales had to spend more than half a day waiting to get clearance to continue his journey.
Morales said the Spanish ambassador to Austria arrived at the airport with two embassy personnel and asked to search the plane. He said he refused.
The Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, acknowledged on Friday that the decision to block Morales plane was based on a tip that Snowden was on board.
"They told us that the information was clear, that he was inside," he told Spanish TV, without clarifying who the tip was from.
It is assumed the US was behind the diversion, though US officials have said only that they were in contact with the countries on the plane's route.
France has apologised to Bolivia.
Morales said when he finally arrived in La Paz: "It is an open provocation to the continent, not only to the president; they use the agent of North American imperialism to scare us and intimidate us."
At a hastily called meeting of the Unasur regional bloc, many governments condemned the action against Morales plane.
"We are not colonies any more," Uruguay's president, José Mujica, said. "We deserve respect, and when one of our governments is insulted we feel the insult throughout Latin America."
The Argentinean president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, was also present, along with a senior representative of President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil.
Regional support may make it easier for the country offering asylum to resist US pressure for extradition. But whether Snowden can make it to South America remains uncertain, as are his current circumstances. He has not been seen or heard in public since he flew to Russia from Hong Kong. WikiLeaks says it is in touch with him and that he has widened his search for aslyum by adding six new countries.
In a tweet, the group said it would not reveal the names of the nations "due to attempted US interference".
US Attempts to Block Edward Snowden Are 'Bolstering' Case for Asylum
As Venezuela and Nicaragua offer help to whistleblower, experts say US actions are strengthening his case for safe haven
By Jamie Doward
The Observer, Sunday 7 July 2013 Attempts by the US to close down intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden's asylum options are strengthening his case to seek a safe harbour outside of Russia, legal experts claim.
Snowden, who is believed to be in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, has received provisional offers of asylum from Nicaragua and Venezuela, and last night Bolivia also offered him sanctuary. He has applied to at least six other countries, says the Wikileaks organisation providing legal support.
Michael Bochenek, director of law and policy at Amnesty International, said the American government's actions were bolstering Snowden's case. He said claims that the US had sought to reroute the plane of Bolivia's president, Evo Morales, amid reports that the fugitive former analyst for the National Security Agency was on board, and suggestions that vice-president Joe Biden had phoned the Ecuadorean leader, Rafael Correa, to block asylum for Snowden, carried serious implications.
"Interfering with the right to seek asylum is a serious problem in international law," Bochenek said. "It is further evidence that he [Snowden] has a well-founded fear of persecution. This will be relevant to any state when considering an application. International law says that somebody who fears persecution should not be returned to that country."
Venezuela's extradition treaties with the US contain clauses that allow it to reject requests if it believes they are politically motivated. The country's president, Nicolas Maduro, has praised Snowden for being a "young man who told the truth" and has criticised European countries' alleged role in the rerouting of Morales's plane last week .
"The European people have seen the cowardice and the weakness of their governments, which now look like colonies of the US," he said on Friday.
Spain said it had been warned that Snowden was on the Bolivian presidential plane, the first acknowledgement that the manhunt was linked to the plane's diversion to Austria. Foreign minister José Manuel Garcia-Margallo said: "They told us that the information was clear, that he was inside." He did not say who "they" were or whether he had been in contact with the US.
Speaking from Buenos Aires, Bochenek said the US actions were transforming the Snowden affair into a global saga. "In PR terms, opinion here and elsewhere in Latin America has shifted precisely because of the appearance of interference with other governments' decision-making processes," he said.
Bochenek said there was no reason why Snowden could not be granted asylum without setting foot in the country that had granted him refuge. The need to be present in the country where asylum is granted is a convention that can be ignored if nations see fit, he said.
"It's true that a lot of states have that as a rule in their own domestic requirements, but it is not required by international law," he said.
Neither did placing Snowden on an Interpol "red flag" list mean that states had to hand him over to the US. The procedure is an advisory measure that can be ignored, legal experts said.
A decision to give Snowden refuge has political consequences for Maduro, and provides his critics with ammunition.
Venezuela's opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, has accused Maduro of using Snowden to distract voters from economic woes at home. "Nicolas, you can't use asylum to cover up that you stole the election. That doesn't give you legitimacy, nor make the people forget," he said on Twitter.
Nicaragua's president, Daniel Ortega, said he was willing to offer asylum, "if circumstances allow it", although he did not say what the circumstances would be. Venezuela, though, appears a more likely host.
"Asylum for Snowden in Venezuela would be the best solution," Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the international affairs committee of Russia's lower house of parliament, said on Twitter. "That country is in a sharp conflict with the US."
However, there are no direct commercial flights between Moscow and Caracas, and the usual route involves changing planes in Havana.
It is not clear whether the Cuban authorities would grant Snowden transit. However, Cuba has expressed sympathy for Snowden's situation and accused the US of "trampling" on other states' sovereignty.
Meanwhile, spotting Snowden is becoming a popular game among people passing through Sheremetyevo airport.
"I offered my kids $200 to get a picture of him," said Simon Parry, a Briton who expressed sympathy for Snowden after spending a couple of hours in the airport.
"The wireless internet is appalling, the prices are awful, and people never smile," Parry said. "So I commend him for making it 24 hours, let alone two weeks. I might rather face trial."
See also
The U.S. Already Wants Venezuela to Send Snowden Home: The U.S. has pre-emptively sent an extradition request to Venezuela should the hacker find his way to the country after their president offered him a safe haven in the South American country. Hopefully they spelled his middle name right this time.
By Jonathan Watts and agencies
Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua have offered asylum to Edward Snowden, the US whistleblower who is believed to have spent the past two weeks at a Moscow airport evading US attempts to extradite him.
The Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, and his Nicaraguan counterpart, Daniel Ortega, made the asylum offers on Friday, shortly after they and other Latin American leaders met to denounce the diversion of a plane carrying the Bolivian president, Evo Morales, due to suspicions that Snowden might have been on board.
Shortly after, Morales also said Bolivia would grant asylum to Snowden, if asked. On Saturday, Venezuela's offer was given a warm reception by an influential member of the Russian parliament.
In a tweet, Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the Duma foreign affairs committee, said: "Asylum for Snowden in Venezuela would be the best solution."
The invitations from South America came as Snowden sent out new requests for asylum to six countries, in addition to the 20 he has already contacted, according to WikiLeaks, which claims to be in regular contact with the former National Security Agency contractor.
Most of the countries have refused or given technical reasons why an application is not valid, but several Latin American leaders have rallied together with expressions of solidarity and welcome.
"As head of state of the Bolivarian republic of Venezuela, I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young Snowden … to protect this young man from persecution by the empire," said Maduro who, along with his predecessor Hugo Chávez, often refers to the US as "the empire".
The previous day, Maduro told the Telesur TV channel that Venezuela had received an extradition request from the US, which he had already rejected.
A copy of the request, seen by the Guardian, notes that Snowden "unlawfully released classified information and documents to international media outlets" and names the Guardian and the Washington Post. Dated 3 July and sent in English and Spanish, it says: "The United States seeks Snowden's provisional arrest should Snowden seek to travel to or transit through Venezuela. Snowden is a flight risk because of the substantial charges he is facing and his current and active attempts to remain a fugitive."
It adds that he is charged with unauthorised disclosure of national defence information, unauthorised disclosure of classified communication intelligence and theft of government property. Each of these three charges carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.
Describing Snowden as "a fugitive who is currently in Russia", it urges Venezuela to keep him in custody if arrested and to seize all items in his possession for later delivery to the US. It provides a photograph and two alternative passport numbers – one revoked, and one reported lost or stolen.
Maduro said he did not accept the grounds for the charges.
"He has told the truth, in the spirit of rebellion, about the US spying on the whole world," Maduro said in his latest speech. "Who is the guilty one? A young man … who denounces war plans, or the US government which launches bombs and arms the terrorist Syrian opposition against the people and legitimate president, Bashar al-Assad?"
The Bolivian government, which has said it would listen sympathetically to an aslyum request from Snowden, said it too had turned down a pre-emptive US extradition request.
Ortega said Nicaragua had received an asylum request from Snowden and the president gave a guarded acceptance.
"We are an open country, respectful of the right of asylum, and it's clear that if circumstances permit, we would gladly receive Snowden and give him asylum in Nicaragua," Ortega told a gathering in Managua.
So far, the countries that have been most vocal in offering support are close allies of Venezuela. Ecuador has also expressed support for Snowden, though the government there has yet to decide whether it would grant aslyum. It is already providing refuge for the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been in the Ecuadorean embassy in London for about a year.
Many in Latin America were furious when the Bolivian president's flight from Russia was denied airspace by European countries, forcing it to land in Vienna, where Morales had to spend more than half a day waiting to get clearance to continue his journey.
Morales said the Spanish ambassador to Austria arrived at the airport with two embassy personnel and asked to search the plane. He said he refused.
The Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, acknowledged on Friday that the decision to block Morales plane was based on a tip that Snowden was on board.
"They told us that the information was clear, that he was inside," he told Spanish TV, without clarifying who the tip was from.
It is assumed the US was behind the diversion, though US officials have said only that they were in contact with the countries on the plane's route.
France has apologised to Bolivia.
Morales said when he finally arrived in La Paz: "It is an open provocation to the continent, not only to the president; they use the agent of North American imperialism to scare us and intimidate us."
At a hastily called meeting of the Unasur regional bloc, many governments condemned the action against Morales plane.
"We are not colonies any more," Uruguay's president, José Mujica, said. "We deserve respect, and when one of our governments is insulted we feel the insult throughout Latin America."
The Argentinean president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, was also present, along with a senior representative of President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil.
Regional support may make it easier for the country offering asylum to resist US pressure for extradition. But whether Snowden can make it to South America remains uncertain, as are his current circumstances. He has not been seen or heard in public since he flew to Russia from Hong Kong. WikiLeaks says it is in touch with him and that he has widened his search for aslyum by adding six new countries.
In a tweet, the group said it would not reveal the names of the nations "due to attempted US interference".
US Attempts to Block Edward Snowden Are 'Bolstering' Case for Asylum
As Venezuela and Nicaragua offer help to whistleblower, experts say US actions are strengthening his case for safe haven
By Jamie Doward
The Observer, Sunday 7 July 2013 Attempts by the US to close down intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden's asylum options are strengthening his case to seek a safe harbour outside of Russia, legal experts claim.
Snowden, who is believed to be in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, has received provisional offers of asylum from Nicaragua and Venezuela, and last night Bolivia also offered him sanctuary. He has applied to at least six other countries, says the Wikileaks organisation providing legal support.
Michael Bochenek, director of law and policy at Amnesty International, said the American government's actions were bolstering Snowden's case. He said claims that the US had sought to reroute the plane of Bolivia's president, Evo Morales, amid reports that the fugitive former analyst for the National Security Agency was on board, and suggestions that vice-president Joe Biden had phoned the Ecuadorean leader, Rafael Correa, to block asylum for Snowden, carried serious implications.
"Interfering with the right to seek asylum is a serious problem in international law," Bochenek said. "It is further evidence that he [Snowden] has a well-founded fear of persecution. This will be relevant to any state when considering an application. International law says that somebody who fears persecution should not be returned to that country."
Venezuela's extradition treaties with the US contain clauses that allow it to reject requests if it believes they are politically motivated. The country's president, Nicolas Maduro, has praised Snowden for being a "young man who told the truth" and has criticised European countries' alleged role in the rerouting of Morales's plane last week .
"The European people have seen the cowardice and the weakness of their governments, which now look like colonies of the US," he said on Friday.
Spain said it had been warned that Snowden was on the Bolivian presidential plane, the first acknowledgement that the manhunt was linked to the plane's diversion to Austria. Foreign minister José Manuel Garcia-Margallo said: "They told us that the information was clear, that he was inside." He did not say who "they" were or whether he had been in contact with the US.
Speaking from Buenos Aires, Bochenek said the US actions were transforming the Snowden affair into a global saga. "In PR terms, opinion here and elsewhere in Latin America has shifted precisely because of the appearance of interference with other governments' decision-making processes," he said.
Bochenek said there was no reason why Snowden could not be granted asylum without setting foot in the country that had granted him refuge. The need to be present in the country where asylum is granted is a convention that can be ignored if nations see fit, he said.
"It's true that a lot of states have that as a rule in their own domestic requirements, but it is not required by international law," he said.
Neither did placing Snowden on an Interpol "red flag" list mean that states had to hand him over to the US. The procedure is an advisory measure that can be ignored, legal experts said.
A decision to give Snowden refuge has political consequences for Maduro, and provides his critics with ammunition.
Venezuela's opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, has accused Maduro of using Snowden to distract voters from economic woes at home. "Nicolas, you can't use asylum to cover up that you stole the election. That doesn't give you legitimacy, nor make the people forget," he said on Twitter.
Nicaragua's president, Daniel Ortega, said he was willing to offer asylum, "if circumstances allow it", although he did not say what the circumstances would be. Venezuela, though, appears a more likely host.
"Asylum for Snowden in Venezuela would be the best solution," Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the international affairs committee of Russia's lower house of parliament, said on Twitter. "That country is in a sharp conflict with the US."
However, there are no direct commercial flights between Moscow and Caracas, and the usual route involves changing planes in Havana.
It is not clear whether the Cuban authorities would grant Snowden transit. However, Cuba has expressed sympathy for Snowden's situation and accused the US of "trampling" on other states' sovereignty.
Meanwhile, spotting Snowden is becoming a popular game among people passing through Sheremetyevo airport.
"I offered my kids $200 to get a picture of him," said Simon Parry, a Briton who expressed sympathy for Snowden after spending a couple of hours in the airport.
"The wireless internet is appalling, the prices are awful, and people never smile," Parry said. "So I commend him for making it 24 hours, let alone two weeks. I might rather face trial."
See also
The U.S. Already Wants Venezuela to Send Snowden Home: The U.S. has pre-emptively sent an extradition request to Venezuela should the hacker find his way to the country after their president offered him a safe haven in the South American country. Hopefully they spelled his middle name right this time.
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