{"id":53599,"date":"2013-07-27T06:40:07","date_gmt":"2013-07-27T05:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/us-pressures-russia-to-extradite-snowden-vowing-he-will-not-be-tortured\/53599\/"},"modified":"2013-07-27T06:40:07","modified_gmt":"2013-07-27T05:40:07","slug":"us-pressures-russia-to-extradite-snowden-vowing-he-will-not-be-tortured","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/us-pressures-russia-to-extradite-snowden-vowing-he-will-not-be-tortured\/","title":{"rendered":"US pressures Russia to extradite Snowden, vowing \u201che will not be tortured\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

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\n By
\n Thomas Gaist
\n
27 July 2013
\n <\/h5>\n

As the US government aggressively pursues Edward Snowden\u2019s extradition from Russia, it was reported in Moscow Friday that representatives of the Russian state security service, the FSB, are in discussions with the American FBI on the fate of the National Security Agency contractor-turned-leaker.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Vladimir Putin indicated that the discussions were over how the Russian security services would make good on the Russian president\u2019s insistence that Snowden would not be allowed to \u201charm our US partners\u201d by disclosing further information about the secret and illegal domestic spying operations conducted by the NSA. The spokesman added, however that, \u201cthe situation may develop further.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Obama administration intends to put Snowden on trial for \u201cwillful communication of classified communications to an unauthorized recipient,\u201d \u201cunauthorized communication of national-defense information,\u201d and \u201ctheft of government property.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was also revealed Friday that on July 23, Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. sent an extraordinary letter to Moscow reassuring the Russian leadership that Snowden will not be executed or tortured upon return to the US. That such assurances are necessary\u2013Snowden will not be tortured, Snowden will receive a real trial complete with his own lawyer\u2013speaks volumes about the decayed state of American democracy. <\/p>\n

Holder wrote, \u201cFirst, the United States would not seek the death penalty for Mr. Snowden should he return to the United States.\u201d Holder continued, \u201cMr. Snowden will not be tortured. Torture is unlawful in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he returns to the United States, Mr. Snowden would promptly be brought before a civilian court convened under Article III of the United States Constitution and supervised by a United States District Judge . . . Mr. Snowden would be appointed (or if so chose, could retain) counsel.\u201d<\/p>\n

While torture is banned by the 8th Amendment to the US Bill of Rights, which bars \u201ccruel and unusual punishments,\u201d US government agents have carried out systematic torture in the so-called \u201cGlobal War on Terrorism.\u201d \u201cEnhanced interrogation techniques,\u201d which clearly amount to torture, have been deployed at the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay and at numerous \u201cblack sites\u201d run by US intelligence around the world.<\/p>\n

Private First Class Bradley Manning, who leaked footage of American pilots committing war crimes, was subjected to a variety of cruel and unusual punishments during the lead-up to his trial, including solitary confinement for 23 hours per day, forced nudity, and sensory and sleep deprivation.<\/p>\n

Holder\u2019s letter further asserts that \u201cdespite the revocation of his passport on June 22,\u201d Snowden is technically \u201cable to travel\u201d because he remains eligible for a \u201climited validity passport good for direct return to the United States.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States is willing to immediately issue such a passport to Mr. Snowden,\u201d Holder wrote.<\/p>\n

Holder claims that taken together with the assurances against torture, the US offer of this \u201climited validity passport\u201d invalidates Snowden\u2019s claim \u201cthat he should be treated as a refugee or granted asylum, temporary or otherwise.\u201d <\/p>\n

Such methods highlight the cynical and thuggish mentality that pervades the top echelons of the US ruling elite. According to this logic, Snowden is \u201cfree to travel\u201d because he has been offered a one-way ticket into the hands of a government which seeks to make an example out of him for revealing its illegal, unconstitutional spying programs. <\/p>\n

Washington is carrying out a worldwide manhunt and campaign to intimidate would-be supporters of Snowden. Last week, US Secretary of State John Kerry stated that the US will attempt to force down any flight it suspects is carrying Snowden. This week, all 30 members of the Democratic-led Senate Appropriations Committee voted unanimously to impose economic sanctions on any government that dares offer asylum to Snowden.<\/p>\n

Snowden\u2019s father, Lon Snowden, voiced his unequivocal support for his son\u2019s actions on NBC\u2019s \u201cToday\u201d show Friday, saying: \u201cI think my son, when he takes his final breath, whether it\u2019s today or 100 years from now, [will] be comfortable with what he did. He did what he knew was right. He shared the truth with the American people. What we choose to do with it is up to us as a people.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a letter to President Obama, Lon Snowden wrote, \u201cWe thus find your administration\u2019s zeal to punish Mr. Snowden\u2019s discharge of civic duty to protect democratic processes and to safeguard liberty to be unconscionable and indefensible.\u201d The letter, posted at MSNBC Online<\/em>, continued, \u201cWe are also appalled at your administration\u2019s scorn for due process, the rule of law, fairness, and the presumption of innocence as regards Edward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attorney Bruce Fein, who has been hired to represent Lon Snowden, has referred to Holder\u2019s letter as \u201claughable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president of the United States calls him a hacker. At least four members of Congress called him a traitor. The president has said nothing about presumption of innocence,\u201d Fein said to USA Today<\/em>. \u201cA majority of Americans are concerned and he [Holder] thinks it\u2019s a concession that he says he would not execute him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking to Reuters<\/em>, Fein quipped, \u201cWow, that\u2019s a real concession, they won\u2019t torture him and send him to the guillotine.\u201d Fein further stated that Snowden has no chance of receiving a fair trial in the current political climate.<\/p>\n

The Russian government, for its part, is unwilling to accept the deterioration of its relationship with Washington that would follow from a principled defense of Snowden. While Snowden was granted a certificate this week allowing him to leave the transit area of the Sheremetyevo Airport, where he has been trapped for more than a month, his departure was then blocked by Russia officials on bureaucratic pretenses. Temporary asylum in Russia will be granted to Snowden only so long as he ceases all \u201cpolitical activity,\u201d Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.<\/p>\n

Putin regime spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that Russia will not extradite Snowden. \u201cWe have never surrendered anyone and we will never do so in the future,\u201d Peskov said, while also asserting that Putin has \u201cdemonstrated strong resolve\u201d in his efforts to prevent the issue from damaging US-Russian relations. <\/p>\n

Snowden, isolated and trapped in an airport thousands of miles from home, has been hunted like a dog for his courageous actions. Vladimir Volokh, a top official with the Russian Federal Migration Service, said that the Russian government is taking measures to protect Snowden, who is in mortal danger: \u201cHe is under protection in the transit area for his safety,\u201d Volokh said. \u201cHe is an individual being pursued and his life is in danger.\u201d <\/p>\n

The House rejected an amendment this week which would have placed limited constraints on the NSA\u2019s mass domestic spying programs, which were revealed by Snowden. Despite the play-acting and posturing as opponents of the police state carried on by some representatives, the Congressional leadership of both parties has been thoroughly informed about the NSA programs from the outset.<\/p>\n

Popular hostility to NSA surveillance is on the rise. A Washington Post-ABC News<\/em> poll released Wednesday showed that 75 percent of Americans think the NSA spying is in violation of Fourth Amendment protections against unwarranted searches and seizures. More than 50 percent said that the domestic spying does not protect the US against terrorism.<\/p>\n

Wherever Snowden ends up, whether it is the United States, one of four Latin American states that made verbal offers of asylum, or Russia, he will be subject to a bourgeois regime whose class character renders it incapable of mounting a consistent defense of democratic rights. The international working class is the only remaining constituency for democracy on the planet, and as such the only social force capable of defending Snowden from the vengeful wrath of the American police state.<\/p>\n


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Republished from: World Socialist Web Site<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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