URGENT NEWS!
Two countries ready to grant asylum to Snowden
NEWSRU.com | July 06, 2013, 08:38
Two countries ready to grant asylum to Snowden
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro offered asylum to former US intelligence officer Edward Snowden. Earlier, the same proposal was made by the President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega. The White House declined to comment, saying that journalists should ask the Justice Ministry.
"As the head of state and government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, I decided to provide humanitarian refuge to a young American citizen, Edward Snowden, so that he could come to the homeland of Bolivar and Chavez and live away from the imperial persecution of the United States," said Nicolas Maduro.
The head of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, welcomed this decision and called on all countries of the region to solidarity, the organization said on Twitter.
Maduro’s proposal came after the statement of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega on the possibility of granting asylum to Ed Snowden. Ortega said the authorities could do this "if circumstances permit." "We are open and respect the right to (political) asylum. Obviously, if circumstances allow, we will gladly accept Snowden, providing him here in Nicaragua, asylum," - quotes the president of the Air Force.
On Friday evening, it became known that Ed Snowden asked for political asylum in six more countries. Which ones - not specified due to fears of US intervention.
Former CIA officer Snowden fled to Hong Kong in May, after which he unveiled information about secret operations by the US intelligence services on the Internet. Currently, Snowden is located in the transit zone of the Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport, from where he cannot fly, because his American passport has been canceled. He turned to a number of countries for refuge. The United States is seeking the extradition of Snowden.
The White House on Friday declined to comment on Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro’s offer to grant asylum to the US National Security Agency secretary, Edward Snowden.
The representative of the American administration noted that this was not his prerogative and forwarded the questions of journalists about this to the US Department of Justice.