With American whistleblower Edward Snowden stuck in legal limbo at Moscow airport for nearly a week now, his father lonnie Snowden has mooted a deal under which the US Government should offer a set of legal guarantees to facilitate his voluntary return home.
In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, lonnie Snowden’s lawyer Bruce Fein has sought three guarantees for the whistleblower: That he would not be detained or imprisoned before trial, would not be subjected to a gag order, and would be tried at a venue of his choosing.
“You would also guarantee that in the event any of the three representations are dishonoured, the above-referenced prosecution would be dismissed with prejudice,” Fein said in reference to the charges of espionage and theft of government property framed against the whistleblower in a US court.
Although lonnie Snowden has not spoken to his son since April, he is “reasonably confident that his son would voluntarily return to the United States if there were ironclad assurances that his constitutional rights would be honoured”, the letter said.
There was no immediate response from the Department of Justice to the lawyer’s letter, which went on to say: “If you agree in principle to this approach, I would be eager to collaborate with the Department to draft acceptable language, including a non-circumvention clause.”
Separately, in an interview to NBC News, lonnie Snowden refuted the charge that his son had committed an act of treason by leaking highly-classified documents about the US's far-reaching domestic and international surveillance programmes.
“He has betrayed his Government, but I don’t believe that he’s betrayed the people of the United States,” lonnie Snowden said, adding: “I love him. I would like to have the opportunity to communicate with him.”
The whistleblower himself had asserted in an interview to The Guardian earlier that he leaked information about the surveillance programmes since he felt these were violating the rights of private citizens.
lonnie Snowden voiced concern about Wikileaks, which has been working with his son lately. "I don't want to put him in peril, but I am concerned about those who surround him," he said, adding: “I think Wikileaks, if you’ve looked at past history, you know, their focus isn’t necessarily the Constitution of the United States. It's simply to release as much information as possible.”
US officials, meanwhile, said they are continuing to be in touch through diplomatic and law enforcement channels with Russia and countries through which Snowden might transit or serve as his final destination.
“We’re advising governments that Mr. Snowden is wanted on felony charges and should not be allowed to proceed any further, other than necessary to return to the United States. So we continue to make that active case through diplomatic and law enforcement channels,” State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters.
Stating that the US message to Russia has been consistent, Ventrell said: “We don’t want this to negatively impact bilateral relations. It’s understandable that there are some issues raised by this, but from our perspective, based on our cooperative history of law enforcement, and especially since the Boston bombings, that there’s certainly a basis for expelling Mr. Snowden.”