【2004 Archives】

Human004 Archivescivil rights groups are asking President Barack Obama to pardon Edward Snowden.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the American Civil Liberties Union launched a campaign on Wednesday to convince Obama to allow Snowden back to the United States without fear of going to jail.

SEE ALSO: Watch the short film Joseph Gordon-Levitt made with Edward Snowden

“Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined, three years ago, such an outpouring of solidarity," Snowden said at a press conference on Wednesday via video from Moscow. "Even though I'm far from home, your company, and your support keeps me company in exile."

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For now, Snowden is charged with crimes under the Espionage Act and faces a minimum of 30 years behind bars.

In 2013, The Guardianfirst published information provided by Snowden -- a former contractor with the National Security Agency (NSA) -- showing the U.S. government was spying on Americans. The reporting that resulted from Snowden's information continued to shock the globe for months to come, as more information showed the U.S. spied on the leaders of other governments, the NSA sweeps up text messages, and more.

The three organizations built pardonsnowden.org, a website that asks visitors to sign a letter addressed to the president in support of pardoning Snowden.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"Snowden’s actions, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting that followed, set in motion the most important debate about government surveillance in decades, and brought about reforms that continue to benefit our security and democracy," the letter reads. "It is clear that America’s democracy has benefited from Snowden’s actions, and I am confident he will be remembered as a whistleblower and patriot."

The site boasts an array of famous supporters, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, actor Daniel Radcliffe and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.

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The campaign launches almost in tandem with the movie "Snowden," directed by Oliver Stone, in which Snowden is played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. It is released in U.S. cinemas Friday.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Snowden took pains to separate himself from the campaign to pardon him, saying he doesn't think it's his place to push for such a thing. But he certainly favors a pardon, and painted a picture of a world that could either grow more free or less so.

“Today, whistleblowing is democracy's safeguard of last resort, the one upon which we rely when all other checks and balances have failed," Snowden said. "It’s about our right to dissent. It’s about the kind of country we want to have, the kind of world we want to build, the kind of tomorrow we want to see."

The groups who built the campaign believe they have a strong case for a pardon.

"Cases like Edward Snowmen's are precisely why the presidential pardon exists," Anthony Romero, the executive director of the ACLU, told the room full of reporters.

They made the case that Snowden's leaks generated an intense public debate about privacy and national security that has lasted more than three years, that the nation is more aware of the balance between those two than it ever was before, and that elements of the nation's national security apparatus have been eliminated and curtailed as a result of information Snowden provided to journalists.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"I think it’s no exaggeration to say this man changed the world," said Naureen Shah, Director of Amnesty International USA's Security and Human Rights Program. “We need those acts of courage to continue again and again.”

The Obama administration has attacked government employees who revealed government information to media outlets, using the Espionage Act to bring legal charges against them more than all other administrations combined.

A pardon for Snowden would be a significant and hugely public reversal of this trend.

Then again, most whistleblowers aren't turned into Hollywood heroes.

Topics Barack Obama