NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is hunted again; FBI demands extradition

National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden is back in the news again, with the FBI demanding his arrest and extradition if he flew to any the Scandinavian countries to claim asylum.

According to newly released documents, the FBI wrote a letter to the police forces in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, asking them to report Snowden’s whereabouts as the U.S. Department of Justice has charged Snowden with theft and espionage, and issue a provisional arrest warrant.

“The FBI expresses its gratitude … for any assistance that can be provided on this important matter,” the letter, issued on June 27, stated.

Back in 2013, Edward Snowden, who was an NSA recruit, had leaked massive data of U.S. and British surveillance of digital communications, showing to what extent NSA had collected phone records of millions of Verizon customers every day, resulting in the breach of security and privacy.

Immediately after the leak, Snowden left for Hong Kong and then left for Moscow shortly after. While in Hong Kong, he sought help from Wikileaks, which arranged and helped him travel to Moscow. He also tried to apply for asylum in Scandinavian countries, especially Norway, at the Moscow airport. But due to shortage of time, he had to leave.

On the same day, the U.S. embassy in Oslo wrote a letter to the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, requesting the Norway government to return Snowden to his country, where he is wanted for his crime, “by way of denial of entry, deportation, expulsion or other legal means.”

Failing to get a response, the embassy wrote another letter, repeating its request of arresting and extraditing Snowden to the U.S. following the 1977 extradition treaty between the two countries. Snowden’s lawyer Ben Wizner spoke on the possibility of the U.S. government sending similar requests to most of the countries in and outside Europe at the same time.

Norwegian Academy of Literature and Freedom of Expression has invited Snowden to receive the Bjørnson Prize next week but he decided not to travel as the Norwegian government has failed to provide assurance of no extradition. Meanwhile, the U.S. department has not received any response from the Norwegian government because he hadn’t travelled to Norway yet.

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