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Edward Snowden asylum: countries approached and their responses | Edward Snowden asylum: countries approached and their responses |
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According to a statement from WikiLeaks, the US whistleblower Edward Snowden has applied for asylum in a total of 21 countries. Snowden, who has been charged under espionage laws in the US after leaking top-secret documents on US surveillance programmes, has been trapped in Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport since 23 June after flying in from Hong Kong. He has yet to receive a positive response to his applications for asylum. Some countries have yet to respond but a number have already rejected his request. | According to a statement from WikiLeaks, the US whistleblower Edward Snowden has applied for asylum in a total of 21 countries. Snowden, who has been charged under espionage laws in the US after leaking top-secret documents on US surveillance programmes, has been trapped in Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport since 23 June after flying in from Hong Kong. He has yet to receive a positive response to his applications for asylum. Some countries have yet to respond but a number have already rejected his request. |
Austria | Austria |
No. The interior minister, Johanna Mikl-Leitner, said Snowden would have to submit his request for asylum while on Austrian soil. But she added that he would not be deported if he arrived in Austria because "there is no international arrest warrant". | |
Bolivia | Bolivia |
No response. | No response. |
Brazil | Brazil |
No. A foreign ministry spokesman said Brazil would not grant asylum, adding that it would leave the request unanswered. | |
China | China |
No response. | No response. |
Cuba | Cuba |
No response. | No response. |
Ecuador | Ecuador |
No. The president, Rafael Correa, said he was not considering Snowden's asylum request. In an interview with the Guardian, Correa said Snowden would have to reach Ecuadorean territory before the country would consider any asylum request. The US has cancelled Snowden's passport, and Correa said his government would not give Snowden an authorised travel document to extract himself from Moscow airport. "The right of asylum request is one thing, but helping someone travel from one country to another – Ecuador has never done this." | |
Finland | Finland |
No. The Finnish foreign ministry spokeswoman Tytti Pylkkö said Finnish law required Snowden to be in the country for him to apply. | |
France | France |
No response. The president, François Hollande, has called for a common EU stance on the NSA snooping. | |
Germany | Germany |
No response. | No response. |
Iceland | Iceland |
No response. | No response. |
India | India |
No. Syed Akbaruddin, a spokesman for India's foreign ministry, said on Twitter: "Following careful examination we have concluded that we see no reason to accede to the Snowden request" | |
Italy | Italy |
No response. | No response. |
Ireland | Ireland |
No. A spokesman for the department of justice said that under Irish law an asylum application could only be accepted from a person who had landed in or was within the state. | |
The Netherlands | The Netherlands |
No response. | No response. |
Nicaragua | Nicaragua |
No response. | No response. |
Norway | Norway |
No. The Norwegian deputy justice secretary, Paal Loenseth, told the state broadcaster NRK: "Applying for asylum should be done on Norwegian soil. According to normal procedures … his demand will be denied." | |
Poland | Poland |
No. The foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, wrote on his Twitter account: "I will not give a positive recommendation." | |
Russia | Russia |
No. Snowden withdrew his request after Vladimir Putin's statement making clear that he would be welcome only if he stopped "his work aimed at bringing harm" to the United States. | |
Spain | Spain |
No. The foreign minister, José García-Margallo, told reporters in the Spanish parliament: "For it [the application] to be legally admissible, it has to be made by a person who is in Spain." | |
Switzerland | Switzerland |
No response. | No response. |
Venezuela | Venezuela |
Possible. On a visit to Moscow, the president, Nicolás Maduro, said he would consider an asylum request and said the whistleblower "deserves the world's protection". | |
"We think this young person has done something very important for humanity, has done a favour to humanity, has spoken great truths to deconstruct a world … that is controlled by an imperialist American elite," he said. | "We think this young person has done something very important for humanity, has done a favour to humanity, has spoken great truths to deconstruct a world … that is controlled by an imperialist American elite," he said. |
But asked whether he would take Snowden back to Venezuela with him, Maduro answered wryly: "What we're taking with us are multiple agreements that we're signing with Russia, including oil and gas." | But asked whether he would take Snowden back to Venezuela with him, Maduro answered wryly: "What we're taking with us are multiple agreements that we're signing with Russia, including oil and gas." |
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