The Washington Post has called for the prosecution of whistleblower Edward Snowden despite using him as a source for their Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting on the National Security Agency (NSA).

The call comes as a campaign by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union ramps up for US President Barack Obama to pardon Snowden, a former NSA contractor.

In an op-ed, The Post's editorial board not only announced their opposition to Snowden being pardoned, they demanded he stand trial, or at the least accept a "measure of criminal responsibility".

The editorial argued that only one of Snowden's leaks was justifiable — the leaking of classified documents which revealed the NSA was collecting domestic telephone metadata.

"The program was a stretch, if not an outright violation, of federal surveillance law, and posed risks to privacy," the paper said.

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"Congress and the President eventually responded with corrective legislation. It's fair to say we owe these necessary reforms to Mr Snowden."

However the piece went on to condemn Snowden for leaking information about "defensive" international intelligence operations including "cooperation with Scandinavian services against Russia; spying on the wife of an Osama bin Laden associate; and certain offensive cyber operations in China".

These revelations "disrupted lawful intelligence-gathering, causing possibly 'tremendous damage' to national security," the Post said, quoting a unanimous, bipartisan report from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

"What higher cause did that serve?"

The editorial board also argued Snowden's leaks about the NSA's internet-monitoring program PRISM did not serve the public interest.

"That [program] was both clearly legal and not clearly threatening to privacy."

Ironically, The Post was the first news outlet to disclose the PRISM program, on their front page in 2013, and published many more stories based on Snowden leaks.

Change of heart post-Pulitzer win?

The editorial does not touch on why The Post decided to publish the leaked information they now claim is not in the public's interest.

The Post was one of four media organisations that released documents provided by Snowden. The other three, The Guardian, The New York Times and The Intercept, are all calling for Snowden to be pardoned.

Who is Edward Snowden? Former CIA contractor who leaked information about US spy agencies

Former CIA contractor who leaked information about US spy agencies He worked for the National Security Agency (NSA) for the last four years

He worked for the National Security Agency (NSA) for the last four years Was employed by various outside contractors, including tech consultancy Booz Allen and computer company Dell

Was employed by various outside contractors, including tech consultancy Booz Allen and computer company Dell He copied secret documents at the NSA office in Hawaii

He copied secret documents at the NSA office in Hawaii He leaked the documents, which expose how the NSA gains information using a secret program called PRISM

He leaked the documents, which expose how the NSA gains information using a secret program called PRISM Says he leaked the data because he was worried about privacy and internet freedom

Earlier Monday, Glenn Greenwald, one of the co-founding editors of The Intercept, penned an article slamming The Post for hanging Snowden out to dry.

"The editors are literally calling for the criminal prosecution of one of the most important sources in their own newspaper's history," Greenwald said.

"Having basked in the glory of awards and accolades, and benefited from untold millions of clicks, the editorial page editors of the Post now want to see the source who enabled all of that be put in an American cage and branded a felon."

The move makes the Post the first paper in US media history to call for the criminal prosecution of its own source, Greenwald said.

Technology news website Gizmodo accused the Post of "throwing Snowden under the bus" and asked why staff members at the Post printed "leaks that they don't believe the public needed to know about?"

In 2014 the Post, as well as the US arm of The Guardian, won the public service medal for reporting based on leaks by Snowden.

In their cover letter for entry The Post said they had "been on the leading edge of reporting on the Snowden documents".

Following the award, The Post's executive editor Martin Baron said the reporting exposed policy "with profound implications for American citizens' constitutional rights".

"Disclosing the massive expansion of the NSA's surveillance network absolutely was a public service."

Snowden has been living in exile in Russia since June 2013 and faces US charges of espionage and theft of state property, which could put him in jail for 30 years.