Campaign to grant Edward Snowden presidential pardon gets support of heavyweight influencers

HE’S been in exile for the last four years, but with his residency in Russia running out, this whistleblowing American has made a final bid to come home.

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A NUMBER of technology, human rights leaders and Hollywood heavyweights have thrown their support behind a campaign calling for Barack Obama to grant Edward Snowden a presidential pardon.

In comments published this week, the former National Security Agency contractor-turned-whistleblower called on Obama for a pardon while the president still holds office. Snowden stated the data he leaked in 2013 detailed mass surveillance efforts in the US were morally “necessary”.

The data included thousands of classified documents revealing the extent of US surveillance measures put in place after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Hours after Snowden’s latest plea went public, a campaign supporting the exiled American was launched. The campaign is spearheaded by human and civil rights organisations, which include the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

The rights groups launched the campaign on the heels of Oliver Stone’s biopic thriller, Snowden.

At a screening at the Toronto Film Festival last week, anti-establishment director Stone said, “We hope that Mr Obama has a stroke of lightning and he sees the way.”

During the campaign’s press conference, Snowden himself appeared, albeit via a video link from Russia, where he has been granted asylum.

In the clip, Snowden said: “My concern here is not just myself. If I, and other whistleblowers, are sentenced to long years in prison, without so much as a chance to explain our motivations to a jury, it will have a deeply chilling effect on future whistleblowers working, as I did, to expose government abuse and overreach.”

He added: “The question as to whether I, as a whistleblower, should be pardoned is not for me to answer. I will say this: I love my country, I love my family and I have dedicated my life to both of them, but I cannot support the persecution of those charged under an espionage act when they have commmited no espionage.”

The campaign allows individuals to sign a letter and pledge their support for Snowden.

Since going live the campaign has attracted the names of some major players. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales have pledged their support, alongside Bernie Sanders and actors including Daniel Radcliffe, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Susan Sarandon.

I think Obama should @PardonSnowden. So does @ACLU, @AmnestyOnline, @hrw. Don't you? https://t.co/A6XhCaL2JO

— Susan Sarandon (@SusanSarandon) September 14, 2016

Time will tell whether this latest campaign will serve as a lifeline for the whistleblower, whose Russian residency runs out next year.

In July, the White House rejected an earlier petition to pardon Snowden that had garnered more than 160,000 signatures.

The White House has said, despite the latest campaign, it had no intention of issuing a pardon.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest disputed that Snowden was a whistleblower and said he would enjoy legal due process at a trial in the United States, where he faces up to 30 years in prison for espionage and theft of state secrets.

“His conduct put American lives at risk and it risked American national security. And that’s why the policy of the Obama administration is that Mr Snowden should return to the United States and face the very serious charges that he’s facing,” Earnest told reporters.

Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU, said despite the White House’s “not very positive reaction” initially, “we think it will change with the public’s response” to the campaign.

The full list of Snowden supporters can be seen on the website PardonSnowden.org.