New York: Hillary Clinton has said Edward Snowden should be entitled to both a legal and public defence of his decision to leak top-secret documents if he returns to the United States.
“If he wishes to return knowing he would be held accountable and also able to present a defence, that is his decision to make,” Hillary Clinton said in an interview with the Guardian. Snowden, currently in Russia where he has been afforded temporary asylum, has been charged under the US Espionage Act — a law that makes no distinction between the act of whistleblowing or espionage and allows no recourse to a defence.
The former NSA analyst has been charged with “unauthorised communication of national defence information” and “wilful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorised person”, court documents have revealed. Both of these charges were brought under the 1917 act.
When the former US secretary of state was asked if she believed the Espionage Act should be reformed in order to allow Snowden a defence, Clinton — who said she did not know the nature of the charges against Snowden, as they were “sealed indictments” — said he should be given the opportunity to engage in a public defence of his actions.
“In any case that I’m aware of as a former lawyer, he has a right to mount a defence. And he certainly has a right to launch both a legal defence and a public defence, which can of course affect the legal defence.
“Whether he chooses to return or not is up to him. He certainly can stay in Russia apparently under Putin’s protection for the rest of his life if that’s what he chooses.
The Guardian
