In what is seen as a black eye for the United States, the Hong Kong Government on Sunday allowed whistleblower Edward Snowden to leave the country – less than 48 hours after Washington made public its charges of espionage against him and wanted him detained.
By Sunday evening, an Aeroflot plane carrying Snowden landed in Moscow, amid speculation that his final destination may be “a third country” — possibly Ecuador, Iceland or Venezuela.
An AFP report from Moscow said Snowden did not emerge on Sunday with other passengers in the terminal after he landed in Moscow on a flight from Hong Kong, as some fellow travellers said he may have been whisked away direct from the airport tarmac. Snowden was not among the passengers on the Aeroflot flight who emerged into the public area of Terminal F at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport after the flight from Hong Kong arrived, an AFP correspondent reported.
But some passengers told AFP they saw a car parked next to the plane after it taxied to the terminal building, leaving the possibility he may have been taken away separately from the other passengers. “They were getting luggage straight from the plane into the car. It seemed a little strange. I saw three pieces of luggage,” Aeroflot passenger Jason Stephens from the United States told AFP. AFP correspondents also said they saw a diplomatic car at VIP arrivals with an Ecuadorean flag. It was accompanied by an SUV, also apparently from the embassy.
Meanwhile, Wikileaks, the organisation that has embarrassed the US with its own massive leaks of American secrets, took credit for Snowden’s safe exit from Hong Kong and announced that it is working for his “political asylum in a democratic country”. After Snowden left for Moscow on Sunday morning, Wikileaks said in a statement that he was bound for a “democratic nation via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisors from Wikileaks”.
Earlier in the day, the Hong Kong government disregarded the US request to arrest Snowden, saying its documents “did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law”, adding “additional information” has been sought from Washington. Opting to allow Snowden to leave the country, it said in a statement: “As the HKSAR (Hong Kong Special Administration Region) Government has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for
provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr Snowden from leaving Hong Kong”. Hong Kong officials were quoted as saying early Sunday that Snowden left the country “on his own accord for a third country through a lawful and normal channel”. Besides informing Washington about Snowden’s departure, the Hong Kong government is reported to have formally written to the US government asking for “clarification on reports that computer systems in Hong Kong had been hacked by US agencies.” Snowden had made this assertion in an interview to the South China Morning Post.
The disappointment in Washington over Snowden’s smooth exit from Hong Kong was palpable. For the record, the Justice Department said it would “continue to discuss this matter with Hong Kong and pursue relevant law enforcement cooperation with other countries where Mr Snowden may be attempting to travel.”