MOSCOW, November 5 (RIA Novosti) – Amnesty International has condemned US officials for flatly rejecting the possibility of clemency for fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.
US officials with the White House and Congress said in televised remarks Sunday that Snowden, a former contractor for the US National Security Agency, deserves “no clemency” for his disclosure of classified government documents relating to top-secret US surveillance programs.
Amnesty International slammed the officials' remarks Monday, saying that a US trial for Snowden would amount to political persecution.
“The calls by top US politicians to deny him clemency have only lent credence to concerns that he cannot face a fair trial in the US,” Erika Guevara Rosas, Americas program director at Amnesty International, said in a statement.
Snowden, who was granted temporary asylum in Russia in August, has authored a document entitled “A Manifesto for the Truth” that was published in German magazine Der Spiegel on Sunday. The document argues that "those who speak the truth are not committing a crime."
Snowden faces charges of espionage and theft of government property in the United States.
Dan Pfeiffer, a senior advisor to the White House, responded on the ABC program “This Week” by saying that Snowden should return to the United States to face charges and that no offers of clemency were being discussed.
The sentiment was echoed in remarks made to the CBS network by the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Democrat Dianne Feinstein, and her House of
Representatives counterpart, Republican Mike Rogers.
Snowden “has done this enormous disservice to our country,’’ Feinstein was quoted as saying Sunday by The Associated Press.
