Norway's Supreme Court rejects Snowden's extradition lawsuit

Edward Snowden (Photo: Wikipedia)

Norway's Supreme Court has rejected fugitive US whistle-blower Edward Snowden's appeal for a guarantee that he could collect an award in Norway without the risk of being extradited to the United States, public broadcaster NRK reported on Friday.

This came after earlier rejections by a district court and the Court of Appeal as Snowden, who currently lives in exile in Russia, tried to secure a safe passage to Norway, Xinhua news agency reported.

Snowden filed the lawsuit against the Norwegian government at the Oslo District Court in April via a local law firm after the Norwegian PEN organisation awarded him the Ossietzky Prize for 2016 and invited him to receive the award in Oslo on November 18.

The Norwegian PEN has decided to postpone the ceremony to June 7, 2017.

Snowden, the Norwegian PEN and some media organisations think Norwegian courts can decide in advance that Snowden would not be arrested and extradited from Norway.

The courts, however, claim that they cannot process the case as there is no formal extradition request from the United States and Snowden himself is not in Norway.

Snowden faces three felony charges in the United States, including espionage, after he disclosed a classified US intelligence project code-named PRISM in June 2013.