Human Rights Groups Urge Obama to Pardon Edward Snowden
Human Rights Groups Urge Obama to Pardon Edward Snowden
Three human rights groups have launched a campaign to urge President Obama to pardon notorious NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The “Pardon Snowden” petition comes in the midst of publicity surrounding Oliver Stone‘s biopic about the former intelligence contractor who leaked secret documents in 2013 and is living in Russia as a fugitive after being charged by the U.S. government with violating the Espionage Act of 1917.
The campaign, organized by the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, includes a petition that has been signed by technologists, law professors and celebrities, The New York Times first reported.
“Thanks to his act of conscience, America’s surveillance programs have been subjected to democratic scrutiny, the NSA’s surveillance powers were reined in for the first time in decades, and technology companies around the world are newly invigorated to protect their customers and strengthen our communications infrastructure,” it continues.
In Open Road Films’ “Snowden,” which hits theaters Friday, the title character is played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, with his long-suffering girlfriend, Lindsay Mills, portrayed by Shailene Diann Woodley.
Read original story Human Rights Groups Urge Obama to Pardon Edward Snowden At TheWrap