Image: The Guardian
In a sealed criminal complaint announced late Friday, federal prosecutors have charged Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who leaked a documents about the top-secret Prism surveillance programs, with espionage, theft and conversion of government property. The US government is asking the government of Hong Kong to detain Snowden on a provisional arrest warrant. The sealed complaint was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, where Booz Allen Hamilton, his former employer, is based. The district has a history of prosecuting national security cases.
By filing a criminal complaint, prosecutors have a legal basis to make the request of the authorities in Hong Kong. Prosecutors now have 60 days to file an indictment, probably also under seal, and can then move to have Snowden extradited from Hong Kong for trial in the United States.
Snowden, however, can fight the U.S. effort to have him extradited in the courts in Hong Kong. Any court battle is likely to reach Hong Kong's highest court, and could last many months, lawyers in the U.S. and Hong Kong said.
The United States has an extradition treaty with Hong Kong, and U.S. officials said cooperation with the Chinese territory, which enjoys some autonomy from Beijing, has been good in previous cases.
No word yet on whether Iceland will offer him amnesty, or if Icelandic businessman and Wikileaks supporter Olafur Vignir's purported plan to fly him there in a private jet is feasible.
If this Wikipedia entry on Snowden (and related internet discussion) is to be believed, today is his 30th birthday.
(via Micah Lee)
- The Snowden Principle
- Private jet to Iceland awaits Edward Snowden
- Edward Snowden answers your questions
- Snowden leak: How UK spies attacked delegations to the 2009 G20 …
- UK: Edward Snowden not welcome here
- Edward Snowden checks out of hotel, whereabouts unknown …
- NYT profiles NSA leaker Edward Snowden
- Snowden smearing begins
- Jack Shafer: Edward Snowden and the selective targeting of leaks …
- Edward Snowden talks to the South China Morning Post
- Wired News publishes encrypted message to Edward Snowden …
- How Snowden orchestrated a blockbuster story
- Petition: Obama, debate Edward Snowden
- What some former CIA spies say they'd do to evade capture if they …
- Roundup of responses to the Snowden/NSA leaks
- NSA whistleblower goes public
- Civil disobedience and the Internet
- That NSA Prism PowerPoint deck: A better-designed version