MOSCOW: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday that Edward Snowden, the former US spy agency contractor, deserved the “world’s protection” for divulging details of Washington’s spy programme.
Snowden, wanted by Washington on spying charges for revealing the secret US electronic surveillance programme Prism, has applied for political asylum in more than a dozen countries, in his search for safety.
The 30-year-old is in legal limbo in the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, unable to fly on to a hoped-for destination in Latin America because he has no legal travel documents and no Russian visa to leave the airport. On Monday, he broke a nine-day silence since arriving in Moscow from Hong Kong, challenging Washington by saying he was free to publish more about its programmes and that he was being illegally persecuted.
That ruled out a prolonged stay in Russia, where a spokesman for President Vladimir Putin said Snowden had withdrawn his request for asylum after the Russian leader said he should give up his “anti-American activity”.
But while countries lined up to deny his asylum requests, Venezuela, part of an alliance of leftist governments in Latin America, said it was time to stop berating a man who has “done something very important for humanity”.
“He deserves the world’s protection. He has not asked us for it yet. When he does we will give our answer,” Maduro told Reuters during a visit to Moscow. (Agencies)