Posted on 08/29/2015 12:31:09 AM PDT by nickcarraway
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden warned Norway that he faced a possible death sentence if returned to the United States in the extradition request he made in 2012.
Snowden may get freedom prize at border (28 Aug 15) US asked Norway to arrest Edward Snowden (27 Aug 15)
“I believe that…it is unlikely that I would receive a fair trial or proper treatment prior to the trial, and face the possibility of life imprisonment, and even death,” he wrote in the extradition letter, a copy of which has been obtained by Norway's NRK channel.
The letter was sent by fax to the Norwegian embassy in Moscow, as Snowden hid in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, and then forwarded to the foreign ministry in Oslo with the headline, “”VERY URGENT VERY! SNOWDEN SEEKS ASYLUM IN NORWAY”.
Norway rejected the application on procedural grounds, saying that asylum requests could only be considered when the applicant was already either at a Norwegian border station or actually in Norway.
Jøran Kallemyr, an Undersecretary at Norway’s Ministry of Justice, said that should Snowden come to Norway, he risked being extradited to the United States before his asylum request is even considered.
“It is the case that in an asylum assessment, one considers what are the possible grounds for protection, but here there is an extradition request from a country that we perceive as having the rule of law, so here it would be appropriate that the prosecution office evaluate the case for extradition — but it is up to the courts to decide whether such action can happen before they have processed the application for asylum.”
Emanuel Feinberg, a lawyer representing the Norwegian Academy of Literature and Freedom of Expression, which is lobby Norway’s government to allow Snowden to come to the country to collect a free speech prize, argued that Snowden’s actions, in leaking huge volumes of secret US documents, were clearly political in nature.
“In extradition requests, you distinguished matters that are common from those which have predominantly political character,” he said. “It is reasonably clear that the offences Snowden is persecuted for by the United States were aimed at the US government.”
Eric Holmøyvik, a law professor at the University of Bergen, said that he believed that if the case ever got to the courts, it would rise up to the Supreme Court before Snowden could be extradited.
“There is little case law in this area. Therefore, I believe that such a case would have to go all the way to the Supreme Court,” he said. “The prohibition against extraditing people for political offences is absolute. The key question will be whether Snowdon’s offence can primarily be said to be aimed at the American government and social order, in other words that it is not an ordinary crime.”
He said he doubted that the courts would succumb to political pressure from Norway’s government.
“Norwegian courts are today very conscious of their independence. The Mullah Krekar case is a recent example of that.”
Has anybody actually seen anything this guy is supposed to have made public?
Snowman is such a drama queen. Hilary pulled more treasonous bull**** than he did and she’s running for president. Come on home Snowy One. Maybe she’ll make you her VP while Huma is away serving time in the Federal pen.
What is it he grabbed and ran with? Hillary’s emails? Proof there is no Birth Certificate? What? Surely it can’t be mundane crap like “behind the scenes” emails on trade negotiations with Kuala Lumpur.
Really. Is there something I am missing here? Is there something he released that everyone else in the world knows about but our media has been silent? I highly doubt it. His big news was the gummint is reading everything we post on FreeRepublic? Anyone with 4 neurons that still work has assumed as much from the begining. Newsflash, they are listening! Duh. Especially as regards the 2A. The fact they are listening is WHY we are posting it. The feral gummint needs to know just what a beehive they are stepping in should the day come. They may pretend to ignore us about a number of things but they seem to know just how far they can go today with their agenda but notice they grumble now and again but they stay the hell away from the 2A.
Snow den must have love notes between Hillary and McCain or Linda Graham or something that makes the DC crowd want him so bad.
Snowden stole 1.7 million secret documents. Here is an article claiming many of those he has published have harmed the USA - http://20committee.com/2015/07/19/the-painful-truth-about-snowden/
Here is a former KGB General Oleg Kalugin saying he has no doubt Snowden has given Russians access to all he stole - published or not http://venturebeat.com/2014/05/22/former-kgb-general-snowden-is-cooperating-with-russian-intelligence/
I'd settle for his death in Norway.
Protecting a supporter of terrorism (praising the Charlie Hebdo murderers), founder of Ansar al-Islam... and given refugee status in Norway, while Iraq continues to demand extradition to hold him accountable for his many murders. Mm hmm. So very "independent".
If he didn’t release the birth certificate he’s probably A-OK in obama’s book. Heck, he’d probably get an invite to the WH for ramadan.
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