Crouch writes: "The whistleblower will not travel
to Norway next week to accept award after national broadcaster released letters
US sent in 2013 requesting extradition."
Edward Snowden. (photo: Mark Wallheiser/Getty)
FBI Demanded Scandinavian Countries Arrest Edward
Snowden
By
David Crouch, Guardian UK
28 August 15
The whistleblower will not
travel to Norway next week to accept award after national broadcaster released
letters US sent in 2013 requesting extradition
The FBI demanded that Scandinavian countries arrest and
extradite Edward Snowden if he flew
to any of those countries and claimed asylum, newly released official documents
reveal.
In the summer of 2013 the whistleblower had left his
hotel in Hong Kong and was holed up in Moscow airport applying to various
countries, including Norway, for asylum after leaking to the Guardian a massive cache of
documents disclosing the shocking extent of US and British surveillance of
digital communications.
Suspecting that Snowden might seek asylum in
Scandinavia, the FBI wrote from the US embassy in Copenhagen to the police
forces of Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland to inform them that the US
Department of Justice had charged Snowden with theft and espionage, and issued
a provisional warrant for his arrest, according to documents released by
Norway’s national broadcaster NRK.
“The US Department of Justice is prepared to
immediately draft the necessary paperwork to request the extradition of Snowden
to the US from whichever country he travels to from Moscow,” the letter, dated 27 June,
states. “The FBI expresses its gratitude … for any assistance that can be
provided on this important matter.”
In a separate letter to the
Norwegian foreign ministry on the same day, the US embassy in Oslo spelled out
its request that the government of Norway should “effectuate the return of Mr
Snowden to the United States by way of denial of entry, deportation, expulsion
or other legal means”.
In a subsequent letter dated 4
July the embassy repeated its request that Snowden be arrested and extradited
to the US under the 1977 extradition treaty between the two countries.
Snowden’s lawyer Ben Wizner told NRK he suspects that
the US sent similar documents to most of Europe and other countries at the time.
Snowden has been invited to Norway next week to
receive the Bjørnson Prize from the Norwegian Academy of Literature and Freedom
of Expression, but he decided not to travel because he could not receive
guarantees from the Norwegian government that he would not be extradited, the
academy told NRK.
The Norwegian government said it had not replied to
the requests from the FBI and the US embassy in Oslo to extradite Snowden
because he had not come to Norway.
Julian Assange, the whistleblowing journalist wanted
by the US for leaking thousands of diplomatic and military communications,
sought asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London three years ago because of
his fears of extradition to the US should he comply with Swedish demands to
travel to Stockholm for interrogation over sexual assault allegations. Sweden
has declined to issue a guarantee of his safety, arguing that Assange would be
adequately protected by human rights legislation.
Informed by the Guardian about the NRK revelations,
Thomas Olsson, one of Julian Assange’s legal team in Stockholm, said: “This
shows the Americans are very determined to get their hands on people that they
think have damaged their security or a threat to security policy, and that
includes of course Julian Assange.”
A spokesperson for the Swedish police said the FBI’s
request was a matter for the Prosecution Authority, which stated: “Normally the
Swedish Prosecution Authority gets involved after a person is apprehended and
the police need to contact a prosecutor in order to get the suspected under
C 2015 Reader Supported News
Peralta writes: "In some ways, this decision is
much less important now that Congress has passed a law that changes the way
metadata is collected by the government. If you remember, after a fierce
battle, both houses of Congress voted in favor of a law that lets phone
companies keep that database but still allows the government to query it for
specific data."
An aerial view of the National Security Agency in Fort Meade, Maryland. (photo: Reuters)
US Appeals Court Overturns Decision That NSA Metadata
Collection Was Illegal
By
Eyder Peralta, NPR
28 August 15
A three-judge panel for a U.S. appeals court has thrown
out a lower-court decision that sought to stop the NSA from continuing to
collect metadata on phone calls made by Americans.
The lower court ruling had found
that the practice was unconstitutional.
In some ways, this decision is much less important now
that Congress has passed a law that changes
the way metadata is collected by the government. If you remember,
after a fierce battle, both houses of Congress voted in favor of a law that lets phone companies keep
that database but still allows the government to query it for
specific data.
The three-judge panel of the United States Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia still decided to take on the case, because
that new program doesn't begin until 180 days after the date that law was
enacted (June 2, 2015).
Until then, and as a result of this decision, the NSA is
allowed to continue with its metadata collection program.
The court reversed a decision by Judge Richard Leon
and sent it back to him for further proceedings.
This court did not make its decision on Constitutional
terms; instead, it ruled that the plaintiffs did not have standing to receive a
preliminary injunction. The court sent the case back to Judge Leon to see if
the plaintiffs could cobble up more evidence showing they are being directly
targeted by the bulk collection program.
The complication there is the U.S. government has in
the past refused to turn over that evidence, claiming it is secret.
C 2015 Reader Supported News
Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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