WikiLeaks says Snowden has left Hong Kong for 'democratic nation'

WikiLeaks on Sunday said that the Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden left Hong Kong and has headed for an unnamed “democratic nation” via Moscow.

The anti-secrecy group said Snowden had asked it for “legal expertise and experience to secure his safety” after the United States sought his extradition to face charges relating to his unauthorised release of secret details about U.S. surveillance programmes.

Latest reports say that Snowden has left Hong Kong in search of a “democratic nation”

The group in a statement said that Snowden had left Hong Kong legally and was heading for an unnamed country, using a safe route “for the purposes of asylum”. The group also added that the Ex NSA contractor is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisers from WikiLeaks. A twitter update by Wikileaks revealed that Snowden had reached Moscow yesterday.

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“The WikiLeaks legal team and I are interested in preserving Mr Snowden’s rights and protecting him as a person,” said the former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon, legal director of WikiLeaks and lawyer for the group’s founder Julian Assange. “What is being done to Mr Snowden and to Mr Julian Assange - for making or facilitating disclosures in the public interest - is an assault against the people.”

Assange, who has spent a year in Ecuador’s London embassy resisting attempts by Sweden to pursue sexual assault allegations against him, was not immediately available for comment, his spokesman said. He says he does not want to answer the allegations in person because he believes Sweden would hand him over to the U.S. authorities, who would try him for helping facilitate one of the largest information leaks in U.S. history.

Reuters