14 DAY TRIAL // Edward Snowden’s asylum quest has started a few weeks ago. First he asked Iceland and Ecuador for asylum and then extended his pleas to another nineteen countries, only to add six more, whose names were not disclosed, a few days later.
Ever since this new chapter of the Snowden saga began, several things happened.
First, there were the asylum request reactions.
Some countries have downright denied Snowden asylum, while others havesaid they would consider his request if he were on their territory. Others, however, have taken a stance against the interference and pressure from the United States and opened their arms to the NSA whistleblower, namely Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Bolivia.
At the same time, the United States has been trying to get these countries to deny Snowden asylum and to extradite him on sight. However, they were slammed with a strong refusal from many states.
A couple of weeks ago, the Bolivian presidential aircraft was denied airspace access to several western European countries upon leaving from a summit in Moscow under suspicion that Snowden was on board. It was said then that the United States must surely be behind the order, despite the fact that this was never actually admitted word for word.
Diplomatic issues aside, this was a first obvious step taken by the United States to interfere with Snowden’s asylum right.
And it’s true, while Snowden may have broken the law, as former US President Jimmy Carter said, he has done a great deal of good for the country by informing its citizens of what was going on.
Snowden also has the right to asylum, and numerous human rights activists and organizations have already taken his side.
“Interfering with the right to seek asylum is a serious problem in international law. It is further evidence that Snowden has a well-founded fear of persecution. This will be relevant to any state when considering an application,” said Michael Bochenek, director of law and policy at Amnesty International, not too long ago.
Now, Snowden is waiting for a response from Russia, where he has been stranded for close to a month. Since the United States has revoked his passport, he is left without traveling documents and cannot leave for any of the South American countries that have offered him help.
In Russia, Snowden has applied for temporary asylum earlier this week and, if granted this right, he would receive documents that would require renewal within a year.
However, he would also be allowed to roam free within the country, like any other citizen.
In this case, Snowden could easily head straight for the first embassy of a friendly country. Venezuela is one option, although the United States has made some serious threats that would deeply affect its local economy.
Ecuador is another. Ecuador was one of the first countries to take a stance regarding the Snowden case and has rebuked the United States’ effort to intimidate them. They waived their trade rights and went as far as offering to fund some human rights courses, since it seemed the United States had some problems with understanding basic human rights.
However, Ecuadorean leaders wanted to follow the law and said they would only process Snowden’s request if he was on the country’s territory. That means the NSA whistleblower would need to either be in the country or in an embassy.
Ecuador is already sheltering another individual that has made a lot of troubles for the United States, namely Julian Assange, one of the men behind WikiLeaks. Assange has been holed up in the country’s London embassy for over a year, as the local police stands ready to capture and deport him as soon as he steps outside.
Now, if Snowden is granted temporary asylum in Russia and then gets Ecuadorean asylum, he wouldn’t face the same fate as Assange, since the Russians could not detain him while he has asylee status.
This is just a possible scenario that could be in Snowden’s future, but it all depends on the response he gets from Russia. Human rights activist seem to be quite optimistic in regards to the outcome of this request, given the fact that Snowden’s reasons to seek asylum, namely persecution and fear of torture and execution, are completely founded.