Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Edward Snowden's bid to guarantee that he would not be extradited to the US if he visited Norway has been rejected by the Norwegian supreme court. The former spy contractor filed the lawsuit in April, attempting to secure safe passage to Norway to pick up a free speech award. It had already been rejected by Oslo District court and an appeals court.
Edward Snowden speaks via video link during a news conference in New York
Mr Snowden is a former National Security Agency analyst who leaked secret US surveillance details. As a result, he is facing charges in the US which could put him in prison for up to 30 years. Mr Snowden's lawyers have previously said if he were extradited to the US, it would be "a foregone conclusion" that he would be convicted and jailed.
Mr Snowden has been living in Russia, out of reach of the US authorities, since the leaks in 2013. He had hoped to travel to Oslo to receive the Ossietzky Prize, for "outstanding efforts for freedom of expression". The award was due to be presented earlier this month. But the Norwegian Supreme Court said it could not rule on the legality of any move to extradite Mr Snowden as the US had so far made no such request.
Edward Snowden loses Norway safe passage case - BBC News
"Finally: irrefutable evidence that I never cooperated with Russian intel. No country trades away spies, as the rest would fear they’re next,” Snowden tweeted late Friday night. Snowden linked his tweet to an NBC News report that claimed Russians are weighing a handover to "curry favor" with President Trump. The report cited an unnamed senior U.S. official who said he analyzed intelligence reports detailing the conversations. A government source told Fox News that Russia believes it has exhausted Snowden’s value and at this point he is more useful as a bargaining chip for Putin. The source could not speak to the concept of using Snowden as a “gift” to the U.S. The Kremlin has long denied that Snowden was a spy. He was, however, granted asylum by Russia and is allowed to stay there for “a couple more years.”
Trump has not been shy in his opinion about Snowden. “I said he was a spy and we should get him back. And if Russia respected our country, they would have sent him back immediately, but he was a spy. It didn’t take me a long time to figure that one out,” he said in a debate back in March. Ben Wizner, the Snowden’s ACLU lawyer, told the network that he was unaware of any plans that would send Snowden back to the U.S. The House intelligence committee recently released a bipartisan report to provide "a fuller account" of Snowden's crimes and the "reckless disregard he has shown for U.S. national security." The 33-page unclassified report pointed to statements in June 2016 by the deputy chairman of the defense and security committee in the Russian parliament's upper house, who asserted that "Snowden did share intelligence" with the Russian government.
Finally: irrefutable evidence that I never cooperated with Russian intel. No country trades away spies, as the rest would fear they're next. CNBC Now on Twitter
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) February 10, 2017
The report said, "Since Snowden's arrival in Moscow, he has had, and continues to have, contact with Russian intelligence services." The following sentence was redacted, and there is nothing in the unclassified report that explains why the committee believes Snowden is still sharing intelligence with the Russians. The committee's top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, said Snowden isn't a whistleblower as he and his defenders claim. "Most of the material he stole had nothing to do with Americans' privacy, and its compromise has been of great value to America's adversaries and those who mean to do America harm," Schiff said.
Wizner, Snowden's lawyer, dismissed the report and insisted that Snowden acted to inform the public. Juan Zarate, a former deputy national security adviser, told NBC that the Trump administration should be cautious in accepting Snowden from Russia as a sign of good will. "It would signal warmer relations and some desire for greater cooperation with the new administration, but it would also no doubt stoke controversies and cases in the U.S. around the role of surveillance, the role of the U.S. intelligence community, and the future of privacy and civil liberties in an American context,” he said. "All of that would perhaps be music to the ears of Putin.
Snowden uses report that Russia may turn him over as proof he is not spy
The Russian president is said to be thinking about whether to give the National Security Agency leaker to the U.S. in an effort to “curry favour” with Trump, who described Snowden as a “traitor” and called for his execution.
U.S. intelligence is reported to have intercepted evidence of high-level discussions within the Russian government over the potential benefits for Moscow of sending Snowden back to the US to face trial.
Edward Snowden and Robert Tibbo in Moscow
American spies have also reportedly confirmed parts of a dossier about Trump compiled by a former MI6 agent. US operatives have not verified the more salacious details in the file but if parts have been found to be accurate it may strengthen the document’s overall credibility.
The idea that Putin might use Snowden as a bargaining chip has been circulating since Trump’s surprise election victory in November.
Putin considers handing over Snowden as a 'gift' to the United States under Trump
