US leaker Snowden charged with espionage: official
(FILES): This still frame from video recorded on June 6, 2013 and released to AFP on June 10, 2013 shows intelligence technician Edward Snowden speaking during an interview with The Guardian newspaper at an undisclosed location in Hong Kong. US authorites have filed espionage charges against Snowden and asked Hong Kong authorities to detain him, the Washington Post reported June 21, 2013. AFP PHOTO
What you need to know:
- Snowden was charged with espionage, theft and "conversion of government property." A report on NBC News said he was accused of sharing classified dcouments with individuals who were not cleared to received them.
WASHINGTON
US authorities have filed espionage charges against rogue intelligence technician Edward Snowden and have asked Hong Kong to detain him, a US official told AFP on Friday.
Confirming a report in the Washington Post, the official said a sealed criminal complaint has been lodged with a federal court in the US state of Virginia and a provisional arrest warrant has been issued.
Snowden was charged with espionage, theft and "conversion of government property." A report on NBC News said he was accused of sharing classified dcouments with individuals who were not cleared to received them.
Snowden's employer, Booz Allen Hamilton, a private company that seconded him to work as a contractor for the National Security Agency in Hawaii, is based in Virginia and prosecutors there often handle security cases.
The 30-year-old technician fled Hawaii on May 20 and flew to Hong Kong, an autonomous Chinese territory, from where he proceeded to leak details of secret US intelligence programs to international media outlets.
The leaks embarrassed US President Barack Obama's administration, which was forced to defend US intelligence agencies practice of gathering huge amounts of telephone and Internet data from private users around the world.
Following reports of the sealed complaint all eyes will turn to Hong Kong and Beijing to see whether they will comply with the provisional warrant and hold Snowden.
