Advocates, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, are launching a public campaign to persuade President Barack Obama to pardon him.
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Snowden, who worked for a National Security Agency subcontractor, gained global attention in 2013 when he provided evidence that Washington was monitoring the telephonic and online communications of millions of people around the world.
Former Attorney General Eric Holder said, “We can certainly argue about the way in which Snowden did what he did, but I think that he actually performed a public service by raising the debate that we engaged in and by the changes that we made”.
Tech luminaries Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, and Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, have joined a new campaign pushing for a pardon of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.
Snowden, speaking from Moscow by video link to a news conference in New York City, said that he would return to the United States if he felt he would receive a fair trial.
It also comes at a time when USA authorities are investigating whether hackers backed by Russian spy agencies have been interfering with the US presidential campaign by stealing and releasing documents and emails principally to embarrass Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Some officials have acknowledged that Snowden raised legitimate questions about the extent and effectiveness of some electronic eavesdropping, particularly the NSA ‘s sweeping collection of “metadata” on domestic telephone calls by Americans, a practice that was curtailed after his revelations.
On Thursday, the House of Representatives intelligence committee is scheduled to hold a closed-door meeting to vote on a report it has prepared examining Snowden’s background and activities, according to the Associated Press.
Snowden and his supporters are sceptical.
While Snowden escaped to Russian Federation, the Justice Department charged him with violations of the Espionage Act of 1917 for stealing government property. MORE: Snowden says he deserves a pardon from ObamaSnowden has been living in Russian Federation as an American fugitive since being charged with espionage.
“I know that he would love to come home”.
Tech and human rights leaders are now urging Barak Obama to finally pardon Snowden before his term as President ends in January 2017.
He is single-handedly responsible for changing the way we perceive surveillance and national security, after taking a huge risk and revealing some of #NSA’s biggest secrets to the public. “These were vital things”, he said. “So I had some learning to do once I kind looked into it for myself because there are so many different opinions”.
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Meanwhile, Snowden has appealed to President Obama for a pardon of his espionage charges, but so far, the White House isn’t budging.
