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Edward Snowden Leaves Hong Kong 'On Moscow Flight '
BBC NEWS, CHINA
June 23, 2013: US intelligence fugitive Edward Snowden has flown out of Hong Kong, from where the US was seeking his extradition on charges of espionage. He left voluntarily for a third country, a government statement said. The South China Morning Post quoted "credible sources" as saying he was due to arrive in Moscow later on Sunday.
Snowden, an intelligence analyst, fled to Hong Kong in May after revealing details of extensive internet and phone surveillance by US intelligence. "Mr Edward Snowden left Hong Kong today (June 23) on his own accord for a third country through a lawful and normal channel," the Hong Kong government said in a statement.
On Saturday, the White House contacted Hong Kong to try to arrange his extradition, but the territory's administration now says the documents submitted by Washington did not "fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law". As a result, Hong Kong says it requested further information from the US government.
However, the statement goes on: "As the HKSAR Government has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr Snowden from leaving Hong Kong."
The statement says Washington has been informed of Hong Kong's decision. There will be speculation that Hong Kong has simply taken the easy way out, faced with the prospect of a protracted extradition battle in its courts, says the BBC's John Sudworth in Hong Kong.
The statement says the government has also written to Washington asking for "clarification" following revelations by Mr Snowden concerning Hong Kong - in particular that the US had targeted Hong Kong-based computer networks.
It is unclear what Mr Snowden's final destination will be. There has been speculation about Ecuador and Iceland, while Russia's Interfax news agency quoted a source as saying there is a ticket in his name for a flight to Cuba.
Whistle-blowing website Wikileaks has issued a statement saying that it has helped to find him "political asylum in a democratic country".
Mr Snowden left the US after leaking details of his work as an NSA (National Security Agency) analyst and the extensive US surveillance program to Britain's Guardian newspaper and the Washington Post.
He has been charged in the US with theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence. Each of the charges carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence. The complaint is dated 14 June although it was made public only on Friday.
'Biggest villain'
Confirmation that Mr Snowden has left Hong Kong came only hours after China's official Xinhua news agency condemned the US. The agency pointed to the latest disclosures by Mr Snowden to the South China Morning Post, along with previous revelations, calling them "clearly troubling signs". "They demonstrate that the United States, which has long been trying to play innocent as a victim of cyber attacks, has turned out to be the biggest villain in our age," says Xinhua. Xinhua says Washington should come clean about its record. "It owes too an explanation to China and other countries it has allegedly spied on. It has to share with the world the range, extent and intent of its clandestine hacking programs."
The blunt commentary by China's Xinhua news agency comes only two weeks after Present Barack Obama met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in California for a summit where cyber security was high on the agenda. The US warned China that the issue of Chinese "cyber-intrusion" and theft of intellectual property could strain relations, while China said it did not want the issue to become a source of friction.
Beijing University
The latest revelations, published in the South China Morning Post, suggest a Beijing university was targeted. Further details of Mr Snowden's allegations emerged on Sunday in a report saying that as recently as January this year the NSA hacked into computers and servers at the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Mr Snowden is reported as telling the paper that on one single day in January, at least 63 computers and servers at the university were affected. The South China Morning Post describes the university as home to one of China's "six major backbone networks", from where "internet data from millions of Chinese citizens could be mined".
The leaks have led to revelations that the US is systematically seizing vast amounts of phone and web data under an NSA program known as Prism.
Mr Snowden said earlier that he had decided to speak out after observing "a continuing litany of lies" from senior officials to Congress. US officials have since defended the practice of gathering telephone and Internet data from private users around the world. They say Prism cannot be used to intentionally target any Americans or anyone in the US, and that it is supervised by judges.
