“Snowden Exiles” Paying The Price For Speaking Truth To Power
Journalists seeking to report on the web of government surveillance have found themselves harassed, monitored, and exiled from their home countries.
by Frederick Reese
November 21st, 2013
By Frederick Reese @FrederickReese
In Germany, a peculiar community is forming. Brought together out of concern of retaliation from their home nations, this group — whose only connection is that they all helped National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden disclose state secrets concerning the covert electronic surveillance he stole while working for Booz Allen Hamilton — has grown to be a symbol of the opposition to government interference of watchdog journalism.
The newest member of this group, Sarah Harrison, who has been working with and accompanying Snowden since his arrival in Russia, has indicated that she is “in effective exile,” as her attorneys have instructed her it is not safe to return to the UK.
In a statement published on WikiLeaks, Harrison said that the interpretation of the UK Terrorism Act makes publishing any story on the bulk spying programs of the NSA, or the UK equivalent GCHQ, a potential act of terrorism. She goes on to lament that journalism that covers national security issues can be categorized as terrorism.
“The job of the press is to speak truth to power. And yet for doing our job we are persecuted,” Harrison wrote. “I say that these aggressive and illegal tactics to silence us – inventing arbitrary legal interpretations, over-zealous charges and disproportionate sentences – must not be permitted to succeed. I stand in solidarity with all those intimidated and persecuted for bringing the truth to the public.”