Rogers: Charge Snowden with murder

A senior US congressman says intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden is a “traitor” and should be charged with murder.

“The [US] government has pressed charges on Mr. Snowden,” Mike Rogers, the chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, told a gathering of British MPs and foreign policy professionals in the House of Commons in London on Tuesday.

“We are treating him, as I would argue, the traitor that he is,” the Michigan Republican added. “And by the way, and this is important, I would charge him for murder.”

Snowden, a former contractor with US National Security Agency (NSA), has provided explosive material to the media, exposing the troubling scope and nature of US and UK global and domestic spying programs.

Rogers claimed that the intelligence leaks have led to the deaths of American and British soldiers as “the enemy” was now privy to secret information.

Following the revelations, Snowden fled the United States to avoid espionage charges.

Last year, Russia granted him asylum for one year and in August it extended his permission to stay in the country until August 2017.

“Many don’t find it odd he is in the loving arms of an SVR [Russia’s External Intelligence Service] agent right now in Moscow. I do,” Rogers told the British MPs.

Rogers’ committee is charged with oversight of US spy agencies, including the CIA, NSA and FBI.
 
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