4 ms·

Originally Snowden went to Hong Kong because of their supposed freedoms but right now I think he's mainly concerned about finding a place where he won't end up

• reedlaw 13y ago
  I wonder why he left Hong Kong then? Maybe he couldn't live with the writing on the wall telling him eventually the legal system there would probably hand him over.
  • pyre 13y ago
    My understanding is that Wikileaks convinced him to hopscotch Hong Kong => Russia => Cuba => Venezuela. I think that Snowden's father made some statements that he was angry with Wikileaks for this (because it ended up with Snowden stranded in Moscow).
    • reedlaw 13y ago
      That's unfortunate. It seems in retrospect he would have been better of waiting in Hong Kong until he had a promise of asylum elsewhere as well as a safe passage.
      • guelo 13y ago
        I don't think that's how it was working out. The US had started extradition proceedings and had told Hong Kong to arrest him. Hong Kong was required to do it based on the treaties with the US. They ended up giving Snowden a small window to leave by using a technical excuse but that wasn't going to last. If he had stayed in Hong Kong he'd be in jail for months and then be extradited to the US.
        • DennisP 13y ago
          Hong Kong would have arrested him, but actually extraditing him would have been a process stretching out years. Releasing classified information is not an extraditable offense under the treaty, so the U.S. would have had to drum up some other charge. Snowden could have gone through several levels of appeals, each of which could have resulted in the whole thing being declared political by the courts and Snowden going free. It could be though that the HK government preferred not to be in the middle of all this, and convinced him to leave.