WikiLeaks spokeperson Kristinn Hrafnsson says the organization is willing to assist American whistleblower, Edward Snowden, to seek political asylum in Iceland, RÚV reports.
In an interview with the Swedish National Radio on Monday morning, Kristinn said that Snowden’s disclosure of surveillance carried out by NSA and the CIA, demonstrated what WikiLeaks have long tried to point out – that the government’s surveillance is much greater than the general public could imagine.
Snowden, a former CIA employee, came forward last weekend as the informant who leaked information to The Guardian and Washington Post, disclosing vast electronic surveillance on U.S. citizens, known as the PRISM surveillance program.
He left the United States before releasing the information to the media and is currently in Hong Kong, where he spoke to The Guardian yesterday and expressed a desire to seek political asylum in Iceland.
Iceland’s Ambassador to China, Kristín Árnadóttir, told South China Morning Post that Snowden could not apply for a political asylum in Iceland unless he was actually located there, RÚV reports.
President of the United States Barack Obama who has been harshly criticised for the PRISM act has tried to defend NSA’s actions, stating that the media doesn’t understand the necessity of the surveillance which was intended to protect American citizens. Republicans have demanded for Snowden to be extradited and prosecuted in the States.
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