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India today turned down a request for asylum for fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden who has been staying at the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport for over a week now ever since he admitted to leaking several classified documents that revealed US’ attempts to obtain internet and phone data of a number of countries.
“We have carefully examined the request. Following that examination we have concluded that we see no reason to accede to the request,” MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said here today.
He also confirmed that earlier today Indian embassy in Moscow "did receive a communication dated 30 June from Edward Snowden. That communication did contain a request for asylum.”
Snowden, a former technical contractor for the US National Security Agency (NSA) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), is currently employed with Wikileaks whose founder Julian Assange is also under asylum by Ecuador and is currently at its embassy in London.
With US pressure building up for capitulate, Snowden has sent asylum request to 21 countries which includes India, Italy, Nicaragua, China, Norway, Spain and France among others through Wikileaks’ legal advisor Sarah Harrison. Harrison submitted the request by hand to an official at the Russian consulate at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow late Monday evening. She had made such a request previously to Ecuador and Iceland.
According to a press release by Wikileaks, the documents that were handed over by Harrison has stated the “risks of persecution Mr Snowden faces in the United States and have started to be delivered by the Russian consulate to the relevant embassies in Moscow.”
In a statement issued by Snowden on Monday he accused US President Barack Obama of violating human rights and pressurizing countries to not to give him asylum. He said that the Obama is "afraid of an informed, angry public demanding the constitutional government it was promised - and it should be."
On the other hand, regarding the recent reports over American intelligence agencies snooping on internet servers and reading through private data including India, minister of external affairs Salman Khurshid today said defended it saying, “It is actually not snooping.”
“This is not scrutiny and access to actual messages. It is only computer analysis of patterns of calls and emails that are being sent. It is not actually snooping on specifically on content of anybody's message or conversation. Some of the information they (the US) got out of their scrutiny, they were able to use it to prevent serious terrorist attacks in several countries,” Khurshid said in Brunei, where he is attending meetings on ASEAN region.
Ironically, his ministry had earlier expressed “concern and surprise” when reports of US spying on private data of countries came to light through international media reports last month. The ministry had also said then it will be “unacceptable” for India if it finds US digging out personal data.
US secretary of state John Kerry who was in India last week had said that the issue is “highly misunderstood” and that such an exercise by them have “saved several lives by preventing terrorist attacks.”
