‘No chance of fair trial in the US, need protection for whistleblowers’
25 Jan 2014 5:31 AM IST
Former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden on Thursday said he cannot come back from Russia because ‘there’s no chance to have a fair trial’ and urged the United States to strengthen its protections for whistleblowers.
During an online question-and-answer session, Snowden also denied that he stole the passwords of National Security Agency co-workers, condemned threats to his life made by unnamed US intelligence officials in the news media and decried ‘indiscriminate mass surveillance’ by governments.
Snowden, living in temporary asylum in Russia after stealing and disclosing US government secrets on surveillance programs and other activities, faces criminal charges in the United States after fleeing last year first to Hong Kong and then Russia, where he was granted at least a year’s asylum.
His comments, made on a ‘Free Snowden’ website, came as Attorney General Eric Holder said in Virginia that the US government would not consider clemency for him.
‘If Mr. Snowden wanted to come back to the United States, enter a plea, we would engage with his lawyers. We’d do that with any defendant who wanted to enter a plea of guilty,’ Holder said.
In his online session, Snowden was asked to explain the conditions he needed to return to the United States.
During an online question-and-answer session, Snowden also denied that he stole the passwords of National Security Agency co-workers, condemned threats to his life made by unnamed US intelligence officials in the news media and decried ‘indiscriminate mass surveillance’ by governments.
Snowden, living in temporary asylum in Russia after stealing and disclosing US government secrets on surveillance programs and other activities, faces criminal charges in the United States after fleeing last year first to Hong Kong and then Russia, where he was granted at least a year’s asylum.
His comments, made on a ‘Free Snowden’ website, came as Attorney General Eric Holder said in Virginia that the US government would not consider clemency for him.
‘If Mr. Snowden wanted to come back to the United States, enter a plea, we would engage with his lawyers. We’d do that with any defendant who wanted to enter a plea of guilty,’ Holder said.
In his online session, Snowden was asked to explain the conditions he needed to return to the United States.
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