The note reads: “We request that should US
citizen Edward J. Snowden attempt to enter Norway through
any means, the Government of Norway notify the Embassy
immediately and effectuate the return of Mr. Snowden to the
United States by way of denial of entry, deportation,
expulsion or other lawful means”.
The FBI’s regional office sent
another letter the same day to the justice authorities
of Norway, Sweden and Finland, describing Snowden as a
criminal on the run and asking them to notify them should
Snowden book a flight to one of their countries.
“The United States urges that Snowden be kept
in custody, if arrested,” the note reads.
In a note from the US embassy in Oslo, the US
asked the Norwegian authorities to do everything in their
power to seize anything which might contain the stolen
files.
“The Embassy requests the seizure of all
articles acquired as a result of the offenses (..) This
includes, but is not limited to, all computer devices,
electronic storage devices and other sorts of electronic
media.”
Snowden’s lawyer Ben Wizner
told NRK that the most worrying aspect of he documents
was the US’s pressure on Norway and presumably other
countries to arrest Snowden and extradite him, before he had
had a chance to apply for asylum.
“What is troubling to me is the suggestion
that if Mr Snowden showed up in one of these countries, he
should be promptly extradited – before he would have a
chance to raise his humanitarian rights under international
law,” he said.
“The only correct response from political
leaders in Norway or any other free society should be to
tell the US that this is a question of law and not a
question of politics. And that under international law,
someone who is charged with a political offence, has a right
to raise a claim for asylum before the question of
extradition even comes up.”
According to the Justice and Foreign Affairs
departments, Norway has yet to respond to the US requests,
as under Norwegian law a country cannot request an
extradition until the alleged criminal is on Norwegian soil.
Jøran Kallemyr, state secretary for the
Department of Justice, said: “What Norway has done is to
inform the American authorities how the Norwegian system
works,” he said. “If they request an extradition, the
prosecuting authorities will decide if the case should be
brought before the courts. And the court will decide if the
terms for extradition are fulfilled.”
See also -
FBI demanded Scandinavian countries
arrest Edward Snowden should he visit:
The whistleblower will not travel to Norway next week to
accept award after national broadcaster released letters US
sent in 2013 requesting extradition
Germany hands over citizens’ metadata
in return for NSA’s top spy software:
In order to obtain a copy of the NSA's main XKeyscore
software, whose existence was first revealed by Edward
Snowden in 2013, Germany's domestic intelligence agency
agreed to hand over metadata of German citizens it spies on.
New Report Shows Germany Was In Bed
With NSA:
Behind the public admonishment of the National Security
Agency’s spying techniques, Germany has been secretly in
cahoots with the intelligence agency.
U.S. court hands win to NSA over
metadata collection challenge:
A U.S. appeals court on Friday threw out a judge's ruling
that would have blocked the National Security Agency from
collecting phone metadata under a controversial program that
has raised privacy concerns.
