斯諾登申請避難冰島
Edward Snowden is underground, mobile, and missing. But the former government contractor who leaked National Security Agency documents that turned the world's digital privacy expectations upside-down appears to be keeping up with his plan to seek asylum in Iceland, with an assist from Wikileaks, of course. And the Icelandic government tells The Atlantic Wire that won't be easy.
Reuters reports Snowden contacted the Icelandic government about seeking asylum there through an intermediary last Wednesday, three days after he outed himself, and two days after word spread that he might be looking to head to the Nordic sanctuary from the Far East. He originally told The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald that Iceland was his safe-haven plan all along, despite initially travelling to Hong Kong instead. He's been holed up in China ever since arriving at the end of May, changing hotels, speaking with local newspapers as recently as the same day he made his request to Iceland, and possibly leaving the country since then. We don't know where Snowden is right now — his Guardian chat yesterday didn't provide any answers — but he's clearly been thinking about his next move as even President Obama said last night on Charlie Rose that there's an ongoing investigation into "Mr. Snowden." Turns out, Mr. Snowden got WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson to contact the Icelandic government about housing him:
In a column in Icelandic daily Frettabladid, WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson wrote that a middleman had approached him on behalf of Snowden.
"On 12 June, I received a message from Edward Snowden where he asked me to notify the Icelandic government that he wanted to seek asylum in Iceland," Hrafnsson, who is also an investigative journalist in Iceland, told Reuters.
It's unclear whether Iceland will welcome the whistleblower or not. But his time in Hong Kong is running short, if he is indeed still there. Americans have 90 days to get a visa extension or claim asylum in Hong Kong or risk deportation. Which, given the situation, is exactly what he's trying to avoid. If Snowden arrived on May 20 as he claims, he's already been there for 29 days. He's got 61 days left. Seems like a good time to start making the requisite calls.
But if Snowden wants to do this — if his end goal, or at least temporary play, is really asylum in Iceland — then Snowden has to arrive in or around Iceland before the country will ever decide whether to let him stay. Jóhannes Tómasson, press secretary for the Icelandic government, told The Atlantic Wire's Philip Bump last week that Snowden has to physically be in Iceland, or at least near the border, in order to earn asylum there:
Applications for asylum shall be submitted to the police that carry out the preliminary inquiry in association with the Directorate. According to Para 1 Article 46 of the Act on Foreigners a person has to be present within or at the borders of Iceland to be able to apply for asylum in Iceland. Applications received from abroad, for example with e-mail, cannot be processed.
Expect TMZ-level paparazzi — and certainly international investigators — in and around Iceland. Of course, the spies are already waiting, aren't they?
Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at connorbsimpson at gmail dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.爲了躲避引渡，美國“棱鏡”計劃揭祕者愛德華·斯諾登明修棧道暗度陳倉，一邊在香港接受媒體採訪，一邊悄然向冰島政府發出非正式政治避難請求。不過這並非易事。
路透社6月18日報道稱，斯諾登6月12日通過中間人與冰島政府進行接觸，尋求政治庇護。他最初告訴英國《衛報》的格倫·格林沃爾德，雖然他先來到香港，在他的計劃中，冰島一直是“安全港”。
斯諾登自5月底到達香港後不斷變換賓館，接受當地報紙採訪，並向冰島發出了避難請求，之後便可能離開了中國。目前去向不明，但他的確在考慮下一步行動。
維基解密發言人赫拉芬森在冰島日報《弗雷特布拉迪報》專欄中稱，一個代表斯諾登的中間人找過他。身爲調查記者的他告訴路透社：“6月12日，我收到消息，愛德華·斯諾登請我轉告冰島政府，他想在冰島尋求避難。”
目前尚不清楚冰島是否歡迎這位告密者。但是，如果他確實還在香港，他在香港的時間時日不多。美國人在香港有90天的時間辦理簽證延期，或者申請避難，否則將被驅逐出境。如果斯諾登如他所說在5月20日到達香港，那麼他至今已停留29天，還剩下61天。
但是，如果斯諾登真打算這樣做——如果他的最終目標，或至少是短期內計劃在冰島避難——那麼斯諾登必須抵達冰島境內或周邊，冰島纔會考慮其避難申請。冰島政府新聞發言人托馬索上週告訴《大西洋電訊》的菲利普·邦普，爲了獲得冰島的庇護，斯諾登必須身在冰島，至少在國界附近。
避難者必須向冰島警方提出申請，接受調查。根據冰島法律，申請者本人必須在冰島境內或國界才能提交避難申請。如果申請來自國外，比如通過電子郵件，將不會被受理。
當然，間諜已經在冰島境內外翹首以待，不是嗎？
