It may not do too much to sway U.S. legislators, but the editorial boards of two major news organizations have come out in defence of Edward Snowden and have made calls for him to be granted clemency.
The calls came seven months to the day since The Guardian first revealed leaked information about U.S. government surveillance of its citizens’ communications, thanks to leaked information from the former U.S. security contractor.
After publishing a continuing series of articles on spy programs, The Guardian issued its “case for a pardon” in an editorial published late Wednesday evening, echoing Snowden’s own sentiment that he was providing a service to the American people.
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“Mr Snowden – through journalists, in the absence of meaningful, reliable democratic oversight – had given people enough knowledge about the nature of modern intelligence-gathering to allow an informed debate,” The Guardian‘s editorial board wrote. “Voters might, in fact, decide they were prepared to put privacy above security – but at least they could make that choice on the basis of information.”
“Man does civic duty, and is warmly thanked? Of course not,” the editors wrote.
The New York Times made a more impassioned case for clemency, focusing on recent rulings on the National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance programs.
“Beyond the mass collection of phone and Internet data, consider just a few of the violations he revealed or the legal actions he provoked,” The New York Times editorial board wrote, highlighting a 2012 internal audit of NSA surveillance that detailed more than 2,700 incidents or violations of privacy rules and restrictions.
The New York Times also came to the defence of Snowden in regards to comments from President Barack Obama, who said the now 30-year-old intelligence contractor should have reported his concerns about the NSA to his superiors instead of handing over confidential documents to journalists.
As recently as last month, Obama said the discussion about intelligence and privacy protection needed to happen, but defended the intelligence-gathering methods and criticized Snowden’s leaks.
“I think that there was a way for us to have this conversation without that damage. As important and as necessary as this debate has been, it’s important to keep in mind this has done unnecessary damage,” Obama said at Dec. 20 press conference.
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The New York Times also noted Obama touted protections for whistleblowers that came into effect in the fall of 2012, but explained why Snowden would not be guarded by the presidential directive.
“… That executive order did not apply to contractors, only to intelligence employees, rendering its protections useless to Mr. Snowden,” the editorial board said.
Snowden worked for the intelligence consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, at the NSA’s SIGINT (signals intelligence) operations centre in Hawaii, until he was fired in June following the first publication of NSA revelations.
He left the firm, on sick leave, in May and flew to Hong Kong to meet with former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald and documentary film-maker Laura Poitras.
Referencing his at-length interview with the Washington Post, published Dec. 23, The New York Times pointed out Snowden’s claim he did address his concerns to his superiors in 2012, but no action was taken.
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“In retrospect, Mr. Snowden was clearly justified in believing that the only way to blow the whistle on this kind of intelligence-gathering was to expose it to the public and let the resulting furor do the work his superiors would not,” the editorial board wrote, saying he “deserves more than a life of permanent exile, fear and flight.”
Snowden fled to Russia in June, in a bid to avoid extradition to the U.S. The Russian government granted him temporary asylum in August after he spent more than a month in hiding in the transit zone of Moscow’s international airport.
“When someone reveals that government officials have routinely and deliberately broken the law, that person should not face life in prison at the hands of the same government,” the editorial read.
Although the idea of some kind of bargain has been floated, there is no indication that Obama or the U.S. government would agree to clemency.
Snowden asked for clemency in November in a letter given to a German politician, saying “speaking the truth is not a crime.”
Not only did the White House and congressional intelligence committee members reject the plea, Sen. Dianne Feinstein — chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence — said Snowden did an “enormous disservice to our country.”
Although the editorials were published on the same day, Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger told The Associated Press it was a “complete coincidence.”
“We both had the same thought – that, after the rather extraordinary events just before Xmas … it (would) be (good) to say something at year end,” Rusbridger said in an email sent to AP.
*With files from The Associated Press
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