Iceland's Pirate Party wants to offer Edward Snowden citizenship



Today, one day before their summer break begins, member of parliament Ögmundur Jónasson raised the issue Thursday and is backed by the Pirate Party's Helgi Hrafn Gunnarsson



Decision could be made by the weekend, though few support the proposal



Currently thought to be hiding in the Novotel Moscow Sheremetyevo

He is not yet on Russian soil due to private shuttlebus from airport

Hotel features a games room, library, pool and Turkish bath

Whistleblower Edward Snowden might soon be living up to his frigid last name as Icelandic lawmakers have put legislation on the table that would make the NSA's most wanted man a citizen of the polar country.



Member of Iceland's parliament Ögmundur Jónasson first made the proposition this morning, the last day before the 63-member legislative body begins their summer leave.



Granting citizenship to Snowden, who admits to revealing key details of U.S. surveillance activities would circumvent the rule that he must be on Icelandic soil to apply for asylum there.

Northern exposure: Iceland's Parliament house. Members of the Althing, as it's known, proposed legislation that would mame NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden an Icelandic citizen

Support: Helgi Hrafn Gunnarsson, right, of Iceland's newly elected, internet-centric Pirate Party, and the Left-Green party member Ögmundur Jónasson want Snowden made an Icelandic citizen

Brrrr! Edward Snowden's next stop after his current posh Moscow digs could be frigid Iceland, where parliament members have proposed to make him a citizen to circumvent asylum laws

The same tactic helped get eccentric chess master Bobby Fischer to Iceland from Japan in 2005 to escape U.S. prosecution for breaking sanctions imposed on the former Yugoslavia, according to 21st Century Wire .

Ogmundur Jonasson, whose liberal Left-Green Party is backing the proposal along with the Pirate Party and Brighter Future Party, put the issue before the Judicial Affairs Committee, but the idea received minimal support.

'We wanted to do this earlier,' wrote Pirate Party politician Helgi Hrafn Gunnarsson on his Facebook page. 'But citizenship is an extremely delicate issue when it's granted by parliament instead of granted through ordinary legal processes.'

Iceland's parliament, known as Althing, saw three Pirate Party members elected in 2013. NPR billed the party as an 'international online freedom movement.'



Jonasson argued to parliament on Thursday that Snowden 'is now being chased and has nowhere to go,' according to Icelandic media.

Snowden also has a friend in former Icelandic presidential candidate Asthor Magnusson, who is collecting signatures from Icelanders as part of a petition to make his a citizen.

Slumming it: Not known for its luxury, Iceland will be a departure from Snowden's currently lavish surroundings in a Moscow airport hotel

Riches to rags? Snowden is believed to be in the posh Novotel Moscow Sheremetyevo, pictured. His experience as an Icelandic citizen could likely be quite different

'I appeal to the oldest parliament in the world, the Althing in Iceland to grant a citizenship to Edward Joseph Snowden and issue him with travel documents for safe passage to Reykjavik,' Magnusson wrote in an appeal to Parliament, according to RT News . 'As matters have developed, I think that Icelanders should say 'This is enough': We support open society and human rights. It's a basic human right to grant this man asylum in Iceland.' T he ruling Conserva tive and Moderate parties could halt the bill . And some have speculated that the country 's president, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, could succumb to pre ssure p u rportedly being placed on international leaders by the U.S . government and veto the legislation. Documents: In this post to a Facebook page carrying Gunnarsson's name and which has various parliamentary references, was a bill proposing the country make Snowden a citizen to get around asylum rules Not surprisingly, Iceland also plays host to the the website Wikileaks, another well-known whistleblowing foe of the world's intelligence community. Wikileaks has become a sort of public relations face for Snowden, who remains in hiding.

On Monday, Wikileaks released a letter they say was penned by Snowden. 'I am unbowed in my convictions and impressed at the efforts taken by so many,' Snowden wrote in closing. Members of the Icelandic parliament, it seems, may be among those 'many' taking efforts to help Snowden. For now, Snowden is believed to be stuck in a Moscow airport transit area, seeking asylum from more than a dozen countries. Relax: The hotel's facilities include an indoor pool. games room, gym and library. Meanwhile, Iceland offers many outdoor hot springs

International: Guests are transferred privately by shuttlebus from the airport and taken into a sealed floor. They never set foot on Russian soil

Though stuck may be the wrong word. He is one of America's most wanted fugitives, but it seems that Edward Snowden could be living in luxury at a hotel at a Moscow airport.

The Novotel Moscow Sheremetyevo picks travelers up from the airport, transports them in a bus and houses them on a sealed floor, ensuring that they never step on Russian soil.

It has a fitness centre, games room, library, Turkish/steam bath, and indoor pool.

The hotel is just 35 minutes from central Moscow and with 493 rooms, it is one of the largest in the area

Guests can treat them self to a massage and have LCD televisions in each room.

On the run: Edward Snowden requested political asylum from countries around the world

Offer: Russia offered Snowden asylum on the condition that he does not leak anymore confidential information about the United States

Atrium: The massive hotel is thought to be home to Edward Snowden as he seeks a country that will give him unconditional political asylum Hideout: Snowden is currently in the transit areas of Sheremetievo airport in Moscow



'If he [Snowden] wants to remain here there is one condition - he should stop his work aimed at inflicting damage on our American partners no matter how strange this may sound coming from me.'

He showed he does not want to provoke a new Cold War in relations with the U.S. by firmly insisting Snowden should stop his disclosures on covert operations which have caused embarrassment to America and infuriated the country's allies in the EU.



Ecuadorean President: Rafael Correa said earlier this week he had yet to consider letting U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden enter his country but was said to be going cold on the idea

Russian President: Vladimir Putin said Snowden can stay in Russia if he stops the leaks

Snowden has claimed that the US hacked into communications in countries across the world.

It has caused international outrage, with leaders of European countries such as France's Francois Hollande.

Ecuador's president Rafael Correa said on Saturday that Snowden is 'under the care of Russian authorities', while also suggesting they did not let him reach the country's Moscow embassy where he could apply for asylum.

Venezuela has emerged as the country most likely to house the whistleblower.

Nicolás Maduro said that the NSA whistleblower had not made a formal application for refuge but that he deserved protection under international law.

Snowden has so far applied for asylum in 21 countries but faces a thinning list of options after Finland, India, Ecuador and Poland rejected his plea and a number of others said applications can only be made in person on their home soil.

Government investigators began an urgent search for Edward Snowden several days before the first media reports were published on the government's secret surveillance program.

Snowden, who has admitted to providing details of the top-secret programs, had worked on assignment at a Hawaii facility run by the National Security Agency for about four weeks before he said he was ill and requested leave without pay, according to the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

When Snowden failed to return, that prompted a hunt for the contractor, first by his employer Booz Allen Hamilton and then by the U.S. government, they said.

Snowden, 29, was known among colleagues as a very gifted 'geek,' according to one of the sources, who added, 'This guy's really good with his fingers on the keyboard. He's really good.'

Surprise: Barack Obama said before Putin's announcement that 'high-level' talks had been held between Russia and the U.S. to deport Snowden to America

Venezuelan President: Nicolas Maduro said last week that fleeing whistleblower Edward Snowden deserves political protection under the law



News: A TV screen shows a news report of Edward Snowden at a shopping mall in Hong Kong

His job as a systems administrator would have afforded Snowden very wide access to servers containing classified information at the NSA, and possibly other U.S. intelligence agencies, the same source said, without giving specifics.

U.S. officials do not yet know the extent to which Snowden was able to access intelligence databases, nor have they identified all the secret material he might have downloaded before leaving for Hong Kong, according to three sources.