Paris: The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, considered Europe's top human rights award, has been bestowed on luminaries such as Aung San Suu Kyi and Nelson Mandela. This year, in a slap against Washington, the award could go to Edward Snowden, known as either the National Security Agency whistle-blower or a traitor, depending on perspective.

The European Parliament, the European Union's only democratically elected body, has nominated Snowden for the prize. The others in contention include Malala Yousufzai, a Pakistani girl who was 14 when she was shot by the Taliban last October but survived to become a potent voice in the struggle for education rights for women; Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former oil tycoon and Kremlin critic who is imprisoned in Russia; and Erdem Gunduz, who helped inspire the mass protests against the Turkish government's perceived authoritarianism this year in Istanbul's Taksim Square.

The nomination of Mr Snowden is the latest in a series of rebukes from European lawmakers upset with the Obama administration's foreign policies, including its surveillance program. More recently, the British Parliament refused to authorise the country's participation in a military strike against Syria for a gas attack the US claims killed more than 1400 civilians. Only France, which does not require legislative approval of military actions, backed President Barack Obama's call to punish Syria for using chemical weapons.

While hardly as momentous as the Syria vote, the nomination of Mr Snowden carries great symbolic weight. It glaringly illustrates the chasm the leaks have opened between the United States and its allies, not just European countries but also Brazil, Mexico and other nations that have been spied on by the NSA.