Fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden embarked on a new stage in his life on the run on Sunday night, fleeing Hong Kong by plane to Russia and lodging a bid to claim asylum in Ecuador.
The former US security contractor was in an airport hotel on Sunday night in Moscow but was expected to travel on soon, after Ecuador’s foreign ministry confirmed that they had received an asylum request. His route to Quito may take him through communist Cuba, which would be unlikely to heed any American requests for assistance.
Ecuador’s own Left-wing, anti-American president, Rafael Correa, made a similar asylum offer last August to founder of the WikiLeaks whistle-blowing organisation, Julian Assange.
Mr Assange has spent the last year seeking refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in London, where he has claimed diplomatic immunity against extradition to Sweden on sex charges.
Mr Snowden, 30, who leaked details of classified surveillance programmes to the media, slipped out of Hong Kong on an Aeroflot flight on Sunday morning, just two days after he was charged with two counts of espionage and one of theft by the US authorities. He was accompanied by Sarah Harrison, a British researcher who has previously worked with Mr Assange. Full story...
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The former US security contractor was in an airport hotel on Sunday night in Moscow but was expected to travel on soon, after Ecuador’s foreign ministry confirmed that they had received an asylum request. His route to Quito may take him through communist Cuba, which would be unlikely to heed any American requests for assistance.
Ecuador’s own Left-wing, anti-American president, Rafael Correa, made a similar asylum offer last August to founder of the WikiLeaks whistle-blowing organisation, Julian Assange.
Mr Assange has spent the last year seeking refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in London, where he has claimed diplomatic immunity against extradition to Sweden on sex charges.
Mr Snowden, 30, who leaked details of classified surveillance programmes to the media, slipped out of Hong Kong on an Aeroflot flight on Sunday morning, just two days after he was charged with two counts of espionage and one of theft by the US authorities. He was accompanied by Sarah Harrison, a British researcher who has previously worked with Mr Assange. Full story...
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