USA Asked Hong Kong to arrest Edward Snowden NSA Contractor criminal complaint filed

USA Criminal Complaint filed against Edward Snowden asked Hong Kong to arrest Edward Snowden

The United States has filed espionage charges against Edward Snowden, a former U.S. National Security Agency contractor who admitted revealing secret surveillance programs to media outlets.

The complaint, which initially was sealed, was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, a jurisdiction where Snowden’s former employer, Booz Allen Hamilton, is headquartered

Currently Edward Snowden is in Hong Kong

As per the criminal complaint Snowden is charged with

1)  
theft of government property

2)  
unauthorized communication of national defense information

3)  
willful communication of classified communications intelligence to an unauthorized person


two offenses fall under the U.S. Espionage Act and carry penalties of fines and up to 10 years in prison.
The last two charges were brought under the 1917 Espionage Act.

Currently Edward Snowden is in Hong Kong
the United States has asked Hong Kong to detain him on a provisional arrest warrant.

Under an extradition treaty between Hong Kong and the United States, a provisional warrant, as opposed to a regular one, is a faster way to detain suspected criminals since it does not require the initial approval of Hong Kong’s leader, currently Leung Chun-ying.

If Snowden is arrested, he must be brought “as soon as practicable” before a Hong Kong judge, according to the extradition treaty. That judge will then decide whether he should be removed from Hong Kong based on the terms of the treaty.

Among other things, the treaty requires that any criminal charges filed against Snowden must be both listed in the treaty and be an offense that could land him in prison for more than a year in both the United States and Hong Kong.

Snowden flew to Hong Kong last month after leaving his job at an NSA facility in Hawaii with a collection of highly classified documents that he acquired while working at the agency as a systems analyst.

Hong Kong has its own legislative and legal systems but ultimately answers to Beijing, under the “one country, two systems” arrangement.

White House is responsible for bringing six of the nine total indictments ever brought under the 1917 Espionage Act. Snowden will be the seventh individual when he is formally indicted.

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Snowden not yet arrested despite U.S. request


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Saturday, June 22, 2013

Tags - Snowden Arrested