Hong Kong to Snowden: You're not coming back

Zach Coleman | Special for USA TODAY

HONG KONG — With U.S. officials continuing to snipe at Hong Kong for not arresting former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, and with his next stop still far from certain, one place he won't be returning to is Hong Kong.

The city has now declared it won't let him back in.

Hong Kong's immigration department said late Thursday that it had told all airlines serving the city that they should not carry Snowden back as he would not be allowed entry after the department belatedly received notice that the U.S. had cancelled his passport.

Snowden left Hong Kong for Moscow on an Aeroflot flight last Sunday and is believed still to be in the transit area of the Moscow airport.

"Under the laws of Hong Kong, a passenger coming to Hong Kong must possess a valid travel document," the immigration department said.

The news came as American officials suggested Hong Kong's effort to join the list of places with visa-free access to the U.S. would be set back by the failure to stop Snowden despite a U.S. arrest warrant.

"These issues have an impact when we have a breakdown on cooperation on such a key issue," Patrick Ventrell, a State Department spokesman, said Tuesday. U.S. Consul General Stephen Young meanwhile told Reuters on Thursday that he had "spent three years working for a good relationship between Hong Kong and the U.S. and we've had a loss of trust at this point."

Hong Kong officials have reacted indignantly to suggestions by their American counterparts that they feigned confusion over inconsistencies in Snowden's name on different U.S. documents as a pretext to let him go.

C.Y. Leung, the Beijing-appointed head of the government, said on Thursday: "It was not a pretext at all. We were just abiding by a very fundamental principle of procedural justice and fairness."

Hong Kong, meanwhile, continues to prod the U.S. for answers on Snowden's claims that the NSA has been hacking into computer systems in the city. "We are very disappointed" not to have received any answers, Lai Tung-kwok, the secretary for security, told legislators on Wednesday. "We hope the U.S. government will as soon as possible give a full answer and explanation to Hong Kong people."

Separately Friday, Edward Snowden's father has reportedly informed the Justice Department that his son may return home if the conditions were to his liking. Lonnie Snowden made the comments to NBC.