A new ray of sunshine emerges

[mrswdk]

MEPs vote in favour of giving Snowden asylum in EU

The European Parliament has called on EU member states to drop all criminal charges against Edward Snowden and protect him against extradition to the United States.

MEPs voted 285 votes to 281 in favour of a resolution that the NSA whistleblower should be allowed to seek safe asylum in the EU.

The resolution, which isn't binding, is nonetheless a strong signal from MEP's that EU member states should grant Snowden protection. MEPs voting in favour of the measures described Snowden as a "human rights defender" and urged member states to "drop any criminal charges" against him.

Member states should "grant him protection and consequently prevent extradition or rendition by third parties, in recognition of his status as whistle-blower and international human rights defender", according to MEPs who votes in favour. All EU member states have existing extradition treaties with the United States and it remains to be seen if any nation would be willing to waive such an agreement.

Wolfgang Kaleck, Snowden's lawyer in Berlin, said his client welcomed the move. "It is an overdue step and we urge the member States to act now to implement the resolution," he wrote in an email to the Daily Dot.

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/201 ... pean-union

[Dukasaur]

Good stuff.

[riskllama]

yeah, that is good news...

[waauw]

Finally My guess if anyone is going to take the lead in handing assylum to Snowden, it's going to be Germany.

[mrswdk]

It's more likely to be someone small who isn't a hand-in-hand ally of the Americans, like one of the fail states in the east.

[notyou2]

My guess would be Sweden

[mrswdk]

I nearly said Sweden, but then they are the country who responded to America's rage over Wikileaks by promptly issuing several rape prosecutions against Julian Assange.

[waauw]

It's more likely to be someone small who isn't a hand-in-hand ally of the Americans, like one of the fail states in the east.

Although I don't know what the Swedes or the Fins might say, German media and politics have shown a lot of criticism towards american foreign policy the past 10-15 years and they did send entire delegations to Russia to talk to Snowden.

[mrswdk]

I'm not so sure about Germany, given that their response to the story that the NSA hacked Merkel's personal cell phone was to call Obama and ask if he'd like to stop. Apparently Denmark might be an option though.

I want to see a breakdown of which MEPs voted which way over Snowden, but I can't find one anywhere online ;_;