14 DAY TRIAL // It took a simple letter from Edward Snowden, one in which he offers his help to the Brazilian authorities to figure out the extent of the NSA’s practices in their country, to get people interested in offering the whistleblower political asylum.
In the message sent by Snowden, he mentions that he is unable to speak out about the NSA because he doesn’t have political asylum, which makes it easy for the United States to shut him up.
Lawmakers and international organizations have sided with him and are urging the country’s government to seriously consider this option. The Brazilian government said that they cannot do so at the moment, since Snowden hasn’t filed for asylum.
This, of course, is only half true, since he did send a request back in July, but it wasn’t made in person, but rather by his lawyer, as he was stranded in the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport. This, as many nations have pointed out, goes against the asylum rules, which state the individual asking for protection must be physically present on the country’s soil.
The people of Brazil and many others from a number of countries also believe that the whistleblower must be given asylum. A petition created last month got a popularity boost following yesterday’s reports, and the number of signatures has grown overnight – from 3,000 supporters, the petition now has over 37,500 signatures, with more getting added every minute.
“Edward Snowden is a whistleblower who has disclosed an unlawful global digital surveillance programme that has violated the right to privacy of millions of people. As such, he has grounds to seek asylum abroad out of well-founded fears the USA would persecute him for his actions,” said Atila Roque, the Brazilian director of Amnesty International. In the same message, Roque also urged Brazilian lawmakers to seriously consider offering Snowden asylum, especially knowing how much his leaked documents have helped the country.