A company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (03139939) and a charity registered in England and Wales (1051681) and Scotland (SC039534). The US Department of Justice has charged him with violating the Espionage Act for his part in exposing global mass surveillance programmes. Snowden brought the information to light – yet the strict charges against him remain.We joined forces with the American Civil Liberties Movement (ACLU) to petition President Barack Obama to pardon Edward Snowden before the end of his second term as president.Snowden blew the whistle on human rights abuses solely in the public interest. Amnesty International UK Section Charitable Trust. Nor should he be. Why bother prosecuting Snowden with treason when you can label him a “traitor” in the news, charge him under the Espionage Act and throw him in jail for decades simply for communicating information to the public?Which brings us back to the First Amendment.
The Snowden has also been charged with crimes under the Espionage Act for intentionally revealing secret national security information.
The US government can legitimately argue that secrecy of some sort is necessary to its intelligence operations. Currently exiled in Russia, he is wanted in the US, where he could serve up to 30 years in prison for exposing human rights abuses by governments around the world.When Edward Snowden shared US intelligence documents with journalists in June 2013, he revealed the shocking extent of global mass surveillance. As Professor David Pozen has Such one-sided punishments under the Espionage Act undermine the First Amendment’s checking function, which assumes that the strongest restraints on government power come from popular opinion. He sparked a global debate, changing laws and helping to protect our privacy. Sections 793(d) and 798(a)(3) are broadly written and arguably extend to many kinds of disclosures. In the UK, Amnesty has brought litigation charges against the UK government and its intelligence agencies on human rights grounds – and won.The NSA has in recent weeks been found to be in breach of the US Patriot Act for its surveillance techniques.
The charges facing Snowden under the 1917 Espionage Act are outdated and ill-equipped to deal with the circumstances of his case – and if he's tried for crimes under the Espionage Act, he could be prevented from presenting a defence that explains his motives were in the public interest. He stood up for our rights, starting a global debate on mass surveillance that changed the world – yet whistleblower Edward Snowden faces decades in prison for it. More worrisome regarding the Espionage Act provisions under which Snowden is charged, is that he need not “spy” for another government to fall under them. Without him, we simply wouldn’t know about and be able to address the issue of surveillance on our private digital communications. Amnesty International United Kingdom Section. Copyright © 2020, JURIST Legal News & Research Services, Inc.
Snowden’s revelations undoubtedly brought our attention to previously unknown abuses.In the three years since his revelations, Snowden has changed how we think about communicating online and on our phone.
Immediately after revealing NSA practices to the Guardian newspaper, he fled the USA and sought asylum in Russia, where he remains to this day.If Snowden returns home, he faces imprisonment for exposing human rights abuses.The USA is seeking to extradite Snowden from Russia. In other words, these laws make it a crime to disclose to almost anyone (most of us are “unauthorized persons”) secret government information if there is a possible scenario in which disclosure could harm us or help another nation. The laws give officials nearly unfettered discretion to determine when a release of confidential information may cause damage to US interests. After travelling to Hong Kong, Snowden revealed documents to the American public on the NSA’s mass surveillance programs, which were shown to be operating without any public oversight and outside the limits of the US Constitution. If found guilty Snowden faces up to 30 years in prison.Snowden revealed the information in the public interest – to expose the hitherto secret and unprecedented infringement of the right to privacy of whole nations of people. If you are able to help, please chip in today and help the fight for humanity and human rights to continue. Although officials have referred to Snowden as a traitor, he was not charged with treason.
Opinions expressed in JURIST Commentary are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JURIST's editors, staff, donors or the University of Pittsburgh.
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