NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. (photo: Guardian UK)
05 July 13
celandic lawmakers introduced a proposal in Parliament on Thursday to grant immediate citizenship to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, who admits to revealing key details of U.S. surveillance activities.
Ogmundur Jonasson, whose liberal Left-Green Party is
backing the proposal along with the Pirate Party and Brighter Future
Party, put the issue before the Judicial Affairs Committee, but the idea
received minimal support.
Snowden is believed to be stuck in a Moscow airport
transit area, seeking asylum from more than a dozen countries. At one
point, he told the Guardian newspaper that he was inclined to seek
asylum in a country that shared his values - and that "the nation that
most encompasses this is Iceland."
But to apply for asylum in Iceland, Snowden would have to reach the island nation's soil.
Granting Snowden immediate citizenship would
circumvent that issue. The same tactic helped get eccentric chess master
Bobby Fischer to Iceland from Japan in 2005 to escape U.S. prosecution
for breaking sanctions imposed on the former Yugoslavia.
Jonasson argued to parliament on Thursday that Snowden
"is now being chased and has nowhere to go," according to Icelandic
media.
Leaks by Snowden, a former NSA systems analyst, have
revealed the NSA's sweeping data collection of U.S. phone records and
some Internet traffic, though U.S. intelligence officials have said the
programs are aimed at targeting foreigners and terrorist suspects mostly
overseas.
The proposal to grant Snowden citizenship received
limited support when it was discussed Thursday - the last day before
summer recess. Six members of minority parties were in favor out of
Parliament's 63 members.
Snowden has applied for asylum in Venezuela, Bolivia
and 18 other countries, according to WikiLeaks, a secret spilling
website that has been advising him. Like Iceland, many European
countries on the list - including Austria, Finland, Ireland, the
Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Switzerland - said he would have to make
his request on their soil.
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