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Edward Snowden insists he will fight any attempt to extradite him from Hong Kong

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Edward Snowden insists he will fight any attempt to extradite him from Hong Kong


Edward Snowden, the whistleblowing former CIA employee, on Wednesday night vowed to fight any attempt to extradite him from Hong Kong and said he would use the city as a base to reveal more "criminality".

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On the record: Edward Snowden, speaking in Hong Kong, worked at the National Security Agency Photo: The Guardian

By Tom Phillips, Hong Kong, Peter Foster in Washington and Damien McElroy

7:14PM BST 12 Jun 2013

In an interview from his Hong Kong safe house, the 29-year-old intelligence contractor said he had turned down opportunities to flee because he would rather "stay and fight" the US government in the courts.

Describing himself as "neither traitor nor hero" but "an American", Mr Snowden told the South China Morning Post (SCMP) newspaper he was not hiding from justice and that Hong Kong's legal system would describe his fate.

"People who think I made a mistake in picking HK [Hong Kong] as a location misunderstand my intentions. I am not here to hide from justice; I am here to reveal criminality," he said.

Mr Snowden's comments were his first since he went into hiding on Monday after being publicly identified as the source of revelations over how America's National Security Agency (NSA) kept tabs on private citizens' internet use and telephone records.

He had arrived in Hong Kong from his home in Hawaii on May 20, after taking leave from his job with Booz Allen Hamilton, a contractor for the NSA - a job from which he has since been fired.

The US government has yet to officially charge Mr Snowden or make a formal request for his extradition, but his disclosures have sparked fury in Washington and an attempt to hold him to account for the leaks seems likely.

However, Mr Snowden insisted on Wednesday that he would resist any attempt to take him back to the US and would stay in Hong Kong until he was "asked to leave".

"I have had many opportunities to flee HK, but I would rather stay and fight the United States government in the courts, because I have faith in Hong Kong's rule of law," he said.

"My intention is to ask the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate. I have been given no reason to doubt your system."

Mr Snowden also spoke of his isolation since flying into the former British colony and expressed concern over his family's wellbeing. "I have not spoken to any of my family," he said. "I am worried about the pressure they are feeling from the FBI."

Wang Xiangwei, the editor of the South China Morning Post, said Mr Snowden had been speaking "from a secure location in Hong Kong".

Since revealing information on the extent of the NSA's spying operations, including dragnet surveillance of all US telephone calls and a system for snooping on the internet pages of foreign terror suspects, Mr Snowden has faced the full wrath of the US establishment.

The Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, the Democrat chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a former US ambassador to the United Nations have all labeled him a "traitor" over the leaks, and demanded he be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Mr Snowden has chosen Hong Kong as the base from which he revealed his trove of 'top secret' documents, leaving behind his family and his 28-year-old girlfriend, Lindsay Mills.

Following his disappearance, Miss Mills opened her heart to the world on a blog, describing herself as alone and "lost at sea without a compass" as she struggled to fathom her boyfriend's transformation into one of America's most wanted men. Miss Mills's father, Jonathan, described his daughter's boyfriend as "very nice. Shy, and reserved" in a brief interview outside the family home.

"He's always had strong convictions of right and wrong, and it kind of makes sense. But still shocked," added Mr Mills to the Associated Press, describing his reaction to the news about Snowden.

Mr Mills said he had not seen his daughter since the story broke, but had communicated with her by text message. She was "as well as could be expected," he said. Asked if he had a message for Mr Snowden, he added: "Just wish him good luck and he's got my love."

A senior pro-Beijing politician from Hong Kong told the Daily Telegraph that Beijing would not be able to intervene against Mr Snowden's extradition back to the US, despite suggestions that the Communist Party could view him as a potential intelligence asset.

Jasper Tsang, the president of the self-governing territory's legislature, said Mr Snowden would have to face the courts if American issued an extradition request.

"We have our own legal system, we have our own laws," he said. "When it comes to extradition it is between the Hong Kong government and the other government," he said. "I don't have any reason to doubt the intention of the government."

Asked if Beijing could exert influence to stop Mr Snowden's extradition, Mr Tsang said the concern was unfounded.

"We have the law here. The Hong Kong government has to act according to law and act according to any agreement it has signed with another government.

"If you are saying Hong Kong may breach its agreement with the US because of persuasion from Beijing, any expression of this [concern] must be premature."

 
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