Hong Kong says US got Snowden’s middle name wrong
27 Jun 2013 11:58 PM GMT
Hong Kong officials say the US government got National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden’s middle name wrong in documents it submitted to back a request for his arrest.
Snowden hid in Hong Kong for several weeks after revealing secret US surveillance programs. Hong Kong allowed him to fly to Moscow on Sunday, saying a US request for his arrest did not fully comply with its requirements.
Justice Secretary Rimsky Yuen said that discrepancies in the paperwork filed by US authorities were to blame, although the US Justice Department denied that on Wednesday.
Yuen said Hong Kong immigration records listed Snowden’s middle name as Joseph, but the US government used the name James in some documents and referred to him only as Edward J Snowden in others.
‘These three names are not exactly the same, therefore we believed that there was a need to clarify,’ he said on Tuesday.
Yuen said US authorities also did not provide Snowden’s passport number. The decision to let Snowden leave Hong Kong irked the White House, which said it damaged US-Chinese relations. US officials implied that Beijing had a hand in letting Snowden leave Hong Kong, a former British colony that is now a semiautonomous region with its own legal system. Hong Kong officials have pushed back, stressing that they followed the city’s rule of law in processing the US request.
The US Justice Department rejected the notion Hong Kong had required clarification about Snowden’s middle name - or that it needed his passport number, saying the US had provided to Hong Kong all that was required under the terms of their extradition treaty.
‘The fugitive’s photos and videos were widely reported through multiple news outlets. That Hong Kong would ask for more information about his identity demonstrates that it was simply trying to create a pretext for not acting on the provisional arrest request,’ a spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the department.
Yuen said the confusion over Snowden’s identification and his passport were among factors that delayed an arrest. He said the government requested clarification from its counterparts in the US on Friday afternoon.
‘Up until the moment of Snowden’s departure, the very minute, the US Department of Justice did not reply to our request for further information. Therefore, in our legal system, there is no legal basis for the requested provisional arrest warrant,’ Yuen said.
Snowden hid in Hong Kong for several weeks after revealing secret US surveillance programs. Hong Kong allowed him to fly to Moscow on Sunday, saying a US request for his arrest did not fully comply with its requirements.
Justice Secretary Rimsky Yuen said that discrepancies in the paperwork filed by US authorities were to blame, although the US Justice Department denied that on Wednesday.
Yuen said Hong Kong immigration records listed Snowden’s middle name as Joseph, but the US government used the name James in some documents and referred to him only as Edward J Snowden in others.
‘These three names are not exactly the same, therefore we believed that there was a need to clarify,’ he said on Tuesday.
Yuen said US authorities also did not provide Snowden’s passport number. The decision to let Snowden leave Hong Kong irked the White House, which said it damaged US-Chinese relations. US officials implied that Beijing had a hand in letting Snowden leave Hong Kong, a former British colony that is now a semiautonomous region with its own legal system. Hong Kong officials have pushed back, stressing that they followed the city’s rule of law in processing the US request.
The US Justice Department rejected the notion Hong Kong had required clarification about Snowden’s middle name - or that it needed his passport number, saying the US had provided to Hong Kong all that was required under the terms of their extradition treaty.
‘The fugitive’s photos and videos were widely reported through multiple news outlets. That Hong Kong would ask for more information about his identity demonstrates that it was simply trying to create a pretext for not acting on the provisional arrest request,’ a spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the department.
Yuen said the confusion over Snowden’s identification and his passport were among factors that delayed an arrest. He said the government requested clarification from its counterparts in the US on Friday afternoon.
‘Up until the moment of Snowden’s departure, the very minute, the US Department of Justice did not reply to our request for further information. Therefore, in our legal system, there is no legal basis for the requested provisional arrest warrant,’ Yuen said.
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