A general view of the large former monitoring base of the U.S. intelligence organization National Security Agency (NSA) in Bad Aibling south of Munich, June 18, 2013. Reuters/Michaela Rehle
Lawmakers in Germany want former NSA contractor Edward Snowden to give evidence on previously-secret U.S. surveillance of Angela Merkel’s mobile phone. Snowden has communicated a desire to travel to Germany or France, but Wednesday they said they would instead try to take his testimony from Moscow without compromising his asylum there. More at Reuters.
Snowden’s status in Russia is not without conditions, however: Putin said early on that the most important of those is that Snowden not take further actions to “harm” the United States. Speaking to Germany about covert ops conducted by the US could be interpreted as doing just that.
Wikileaks today released a statement on the matter by their spokesperson Sarah Harrison, who has accompanied Snowden for the past four months.
Snip:
Whilst Edward Snowden is safe and protected until his asylum visa is due to be renewed in nine months’ time, there is still much work to be done. The battle Snowden joined against state surveillance and for government transparency is one that WikiLeaks – and many others – have been fighting, and will continue to fight.
WikiLeaks’ battles are many: we fight against unaccountable power and government secrecy, publishing analysis and documents for all affected and to forever provide the public with the history that is theirs. For this, we are fighting legal cases in many jurisdictions and face an unprecedented Grand Jury investigation in the United States. WikiLeaks continues to fight for the protection of sources. We have won the battle for Snowden’s immediate future, but the broader war continues.
Already, in the few days I have spent in Germany, it is heartening to see the people joining together and calling for their government to do what must be done – to investigate NSA spying revelations, and to offer Edward Snowden asylum. The United States should no longer be able to continue spying on every person around the globe, or persecuting those that speak the truth.
Snowden is currently safe in Russia, but there are whistleblowers and sources to whom this does not apply. Chelsea Manning has been subject to abusive treatment by the United States government and is currently serving a 35-year sentence for exposing the true nature of war. Jeremy Hammond is facing a decade in a New York jail for allegedly providing journalists with documents that exposed corporate surveillance. I hope I have shown a counter example: with the right assistance whistleblowers can speak the truth and keep their liberty.