Switzerland Could Offer Snowden Safe Conduct To Testify About Surveillance, But Accepting Seems Risky
from the how-safe-is-'safe'? dept
Things have gone rather quiet on the Snowden front, with the initial torrent of leaks slowing to a trickle. But separately from the documents that he's provided to journalists, there's the story of the man, still holed up in Russia, in a rather precarious legal position. That probably explains why he has been reluctant to leave that temporary but apparently safe haven. Now it seems that Switzerland is thinking about offering him safe conduct if he visits to testify about surveillance there. Here's David Meyer's summary in Gigaom:Sunday reports in Le Matin Dimanche and Sonntags Zeitung both cited a document, written by the attorney general last November in order to establish the legal situation around a potential Snowden visit, as saying an extradition request [from the US] would be rejected if the Swiss authorities saw it as political. The document stated that only "higher state obligations" could override this position.There are close parallels with the situation last December, when Brazil too was keen to have Snowden's help in investigating surveillance of its citizens. Snowden wrote at the time:
According to Marcel Bosonnet, reportedly Snowden’s legal representative in Switzerland, the position means that "the legal requirements for safe conduct are met," and Snowden has shown interest in visiting Switzerland. Glenn Greenwald, the journalist and Snowden confidante, has previously recommended that he take asylum there.
Many Brazilian senators ... have asked for my assistance with their investigations of suspected crimes against Brazilian citizens. I have expressed my willingness to assist wherever appropriate and lawful, but unfortunately the United States government has worked very hard to limit my ability to do so -- going so far as to force down the Presidential Plane of Evo Morales to prevent me from traveling to Latin America! Until a country grants permanent political asylum, the US government will continue to interfere with my ability to speak.Even leaving aside concerns about those "higher state obligations" that might override Switzerland's safe passage, Snowden must also rightly fear the US will try to seize him if he travels from Russia. The risks seem high, and for little direct benefit -- this is not, after all, the offer of permanent asylum that he is seeking. All-in-all, giving testimony via a video link seems a far safer option for him.
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Filed Under: asylum, ed snowden, nsa, surveillance, switzerland, testimony
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touching snowden now = world wide rits
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Well
A sort of Democracy Detention, if you will.
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Disappeared....
USA is now the tyrant on the world stage and you cannot trust it.
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Intercepted in flight
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Re: Intercepted in flight
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They were willing to ground a Presidential plane(and imagine the level of indignation if some country tried that with Air Force One, that would be seen as a 'declaration of war' level event to the USG), all because Snowden might have been on it, if they knew for certain he was on a particular plane/train/vehicle, the odds of the USG not making a grab for him, 'promises' or not, are all but non-existent.
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Julian Assange
Hey Snowden, don't do it.
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That's why nobody has taken this step yet.
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Re: Re: Intercepted in flight
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The United States of American government are terrorists, best if people realize this and stop expecting them to hold themselves to the high standard demand of everyone except them to follow
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Have they not heard of...
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Nobel discussions
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Getting to Switzerland
In the boot of a car with Swiss diplomatic number plates?
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