AS IT IS 2016-09-17 Campaign Launched to Pardon Edward Snowden

AS IT IS 2016-09-17 Campaign Launched to Pardon Edward Snowden

Supporters of Edward Snowden have appealed to U.S. President Barack Obama to give him a pardon.

The American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch launched a campaign in support of Snowden this week. Several business leaders and personalities¹ have joined the cause.

Snowden once worked as a contractor² for the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). The agency collects and studies information for the federal government.

While at the NSA, Snowden provided details to the media of secret government programs for gathering³ intelligence. He showed for the first time that the NSA was secretly collecting information on the telephone calls of millions of U.S. citizens.

The NSA has claimed the program was legal under the USA Patriot⁴ Act. Both houses of Congress passed the measure after the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Snowden’s actions resulted in the government bringing charges against him in June 2013. He was accused of stealing government property, illegally communicating national defense⁵ information, and illegally communicating secret intelligence information.

If found guilty, he could spend up to 30 years in prison.

The government’s case is based on the belief that Snowden gave away national security secrets that could put the public in danger.

Some of his supporters see him as an American activist⁶ who put his life at risk to bring attention to the secret NSA programs.

Snowden currently lives in exile in Russia, which has offered him asylum⁷. The Russian government has rejected U.S. requests to extradite him to the United States to face trial.

The Obama administration has repeatedly stated that Snowden’s actions were serious crimes. Administration spokesman Josh Earnest said the information “harmed U.S. national security and put the American people at greater risk.”

Earnest also said that Snowden made a mistake by deciding to release the information to the media. Instead, the government believes, he could have made his concerns known in a “more responsible” way.

Congress issues new report on Snowden's case

On Thursday, a U.S. congressional committee said that the material made public by Snowden “caused tremendous damage” to national security. The committee said its investigation⁹ “makes clear that he handed over secrets that protect American troops overseas and secrets that provide vital defenses against terrorists and nation-states.”

But others disagree. Dinah PoKempner is General Counsel with Human Rights Watch. She told VOA that Snowden should not be considered a criminal.

“It’s a real problem the way the U.S. handles people who expose wrongdoing, and it needs to be corrected. One of the best ways to start that process would be symbolic¹⁰, but highly meaningful, and that would be to pardon Snowden.”

Snowden lawyer cites lack of government evidence

Ben Wizner is with the American Civil Liberties Union. He is also a lawyer for Edward Snowden. He says the government has yet to provide any real evidence to support the charges.

“There’s been three-and-a-half years since the revelations began, and the government has had every opportunity and every incentive¹¹ to come forward with specific and concrete evidence that there has been harm. And instead, we hear the same vague, speculative¹² language about how these things damaged national security.”

President Obama can only approve a pardon before his term in office ends in January of next year. Wizner says he remains¹³ hopeful about the president acting¹⁴, although the government has repeatedly said that Snowden should face the charges.

“Something that may seem quite unlikely in September, might seem just a bit more likely in December, if millions of people around the world respond to this call and join our campaign.”

Hollywood film 'Snowden' renews interest in case

There has been new interest in the case with the release of a film about Snowden. The film, “Snowden,” is directed by Oliver Stone, who recently called for a pardon. He spoke⁸ while making an appearance in support of the movie at the Toronto International Film Festival.

“Mr. Obama could pardon him, and we hope so,” Stone said. “We hope Mr. Obama has a stroke of lightning, and he sees the way.”

But he admitted a pardon is not likely to come from Obama, whom he said has kept expanding U.S. surveillance efforts.

“Obama has managed to put together the most intensive surveillance state in the history of the world,” Stone told The Hollywood Reporter. “In the hands of the wrong president, it’s very dangerous what we’re doing.”

Tanya O’Carroll is an advisor¹⁵ on technology and human rights for Amnesty International. She said a pardon for Snowden would be an important step in the movement to limit secret government surveillance all over the world.

Pardon could have far reaching effects

“Snowden himself has said this very clearly – this is not just a debate about now. It is a debate about the future. And I think if we see him walk free, that’s going to be an incredibly important message – a huge, symbolic win for the fight back against mass surveillance.”

Words in This Story

extradite – v. to send someone to another country where they are charged with a crime for trial

expose – v. make something public, especially wrongdoing

incentive – n. something that encourages someone to act in a certain way

concrete – adj. relating to something real, rather than general ideas or qualities

vague – adj. not clear in meaning

speculative – adj. assumption based on guesses rather than facts

surveillance – adj. intelligence-gathering

1 personalities   

n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There seemed to be a degree of personalities in her remarks.她话里有些人身攻击的成分。
• Personalities are not in good taste in general conversation.在一般的谈话中诽谤他人是不高尚的。

2 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

3 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

4 patriot   

n.爱国者，爱国主义者

参考例句：

• He avowed himself a patriot.他自称自己是爱国者。
• He is a patriot who has won the admiration of the French already.他是一个已经赢得法国人敬仰的爱国者。

5 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

6 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

7 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

10 symbolic   

adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的

参考例句：

• It is symbolic of the fighting spirit of modern womanhood.它象征着现代妇女的战斗精神。
• The Christian ceremony of baptism is a symbolic act.基督教的洗礼仪式是一种象征性的做法。

11 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

12 speculative   

adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的

参考例句：

• Much of our information is speculative.我们的许多信息是带推测性的。
• The report is highly speculative and should be ignored.那个报道推测的成分很大，不应理会。

13 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

14 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

15 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。