Edward Snowden says he seeks safe harbor in Iceland

Kim Hjelmgaard | USA TODAY

LONDON — Could Edward Snowden pull a Julian Assange?

Snowden, the self-outed leaker of U.S. spying programs who says he is hiding out in Hong Kong, has expressed an interest in the news media to seek political asylum in Iceland.

But Iceland says he is missing a key element.

"The main stipulation for seeking asylum in Iceland would be that the person must be in Iceland to start the process," said Johannes Tomasson, the chief spokesman for Iceland's Ministry of Interior in Reykjavik. "That would be the ground rule No. 1."

WikiLeaks founder Assange, who also made public reams of U.S. classified information, lost his attempt in London to avoid extradition to Sweden to face rape charges. Apparently unable to flee the country, he ran to the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he has remained for nearly a year.

He has asked for political asylum, which was granted, and Ecuador says the Australian native can remain in its embassy for as long as he wishes.

Quito granted Assange safe harbor on the grounds that were he to be extradited to Sweden he would swiftly be passed on to authorities in the U.S. who want him to face allegations he leaked tens of thousands of government cables in violation of the law.

Ecuador, whose president Rafael Correa is a leftist and ally of former Venezuela anti-American president Hugo Chavez, said the U.S. prosecution of Assange represents wrongful persecution for his political views, a justification for granting someone political asylum. The United Kingdom says he violated his bail by fleeing to an embassy and will be arrested and sent to Sweden if he leaves the building.

So Assange lingers on the United Kingdom's embassy row, at an estimated cost so far of around $5 million to Scotland Yard.

Pressed on whether there could ever be a scenario where Snowden could walk into an Icelandic embassy in Hong Kong or elsewhere and receive a degree of protection while applying for asylum, Tomasson conceded that advice or consultation could be sought that fell outside the asylum-application process.

But he wouldn't comment on the legal status of the person seeking such advice or consultation. In other words, he couldn't say whether Snowden would be on base while trying to get to base.

"The main rule is that the application starts when the person is in Iceland, " Tomasson said. "Anything beyond that would just be speculation."

Iceland has a reputation for providing sanctuary to others. In 2005, Iceland offered citizenship to chess champion Bobby Fischer, who was wanted in the USA on charges of breaking international law by playing a chess match in Yugoslavia in 1992 when it was under sanction for atrocities.

Assange's Wikileaks has enjoyed legal protection in Iceland, and WikiLeaks says it is prepared to help Snowden.

Its spokesman, Kristinn Hrafnsson, said he wasn't entirely certain what tools would be available to the organization to come to the aid of a fellow outer of classified information.

Assange did not work for any government whose secrets he is accused of publishing illegally and to the detriment of operations trying to prevent America's enemies from attacking it. Snowden was, however. Wikileaks says what Snowden alleges he did amounts to "whistle-blowing," a term generally regarded as the making public of illegal actions by the government.

Yet so far, Snowden has produced no information that the U.S. surveillance programs were acting outside the law. The Obama administration says the programs were legal, under the supervision of the U.S. court system and monitored by intelligence committees in Congress whose members have said the programs prevented terror attacks against Americans.

"We believe he (Snowden) is an important whistle-blower," Hrafnsson said.

Hrafnsson said that WikiLeaks is not in direct contact with the former CIA computer expert who when he fled was working for Booz Allen Hamilton, a consulting firm that handles government work. He declined to comment on whether WikiLeaks has staff members in Hong Kong that could be put at Snowden's disposal, saying only, "We are of course willing to assist in any way possible."

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