the Pardon Snowden campaign delivered more than 1 million signatures to President Barack Obama, urging him to pardon whistleblower Edward Snowden before he leaves office on January 20. The signatures delivered to the White House, totaling 1,101,252 in number, were collected by the campaign, the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Demand Progress and CREDO Action.
“People from all over the world have come together to show their support for Edward Snowden and thank him for the public service he performed in standing up for their human rights. Edward Snowden is a hero, not a traitor, and that he remains in limbo years after sparking such an important global debate about surveillance and privacy is a gross injustice. He deserves better than a life in exile,” said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
“By pardoning Snowden President Obama would place himself on the right side of history, and demonstrate that he stands with all those who fight for what is right, even at great personal cost.”
Announced in September by the ACLU, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch, the Pardon Snowden campaign has attracted support from prominent legal scholars, intelligence experts, technologists, artists and advocates. Among its signatories are George Soros, the founder and chair of the Open Society Foundations; Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak; Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey; Timothy Edgar, the former director of the National Security Staff at the White House; Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg; actors Maggie Gyllenhaal, Danny Glover and Mark Ruffalo; and writers Cheryl Strayed, Joyce Carol Oates and Teju Cole.
