American writer and activist Sara Flounders dismisses the assurances by the United States that intelligence leaker Edward Snowden would not be tortured if extradited from Russia.
Å“I think we should remember that US officials have actually ruled and claimed that the horrible forms of torture that they used at Guantanamo were not torture,” Flounders, co-director of International Action Center from New York City said in a phone interview with Press TV on Saturday.
Citing Americaâ„¢s long track records of torture and mistreatment of prisoners, Flounders said US officials have claimed that Å“water-boarding, electricity, sensory deprivation and isolation were not torture.”
In the case of Snowden, she said, Å“we should take it in the same coin.”
In a letter to Russian Minister of Justice Alexander Vladimirovich Konovalov this week, US Attorney General Eric Holder said the espionage charges Snowden faces do not carry the death penalty and torture.
Snowden has revealed to the news media details of top-secret government surveillance programs which he had obtained while working as a contractor for the National Security Agency.
The whistleblower has been staying in the transit zone of Moscowâ„¢s international airport since June 23 and applied for temporary asylum in Russia last week.
Russia has so far refused to extradite Snowden as there is no US-Russia extradition treaty.
Å“Snowden is absolutely right to continue to press for his right to amnesty and protection in other countries around the world,” Flounders noted.
HJ/HJ
Republished from: Press TV