Edward Snowden loses case over travel to Norway

Norwegian court rejects his request to collect award without risk of extradition to the US

Edward Snowden speaks via video link during a conference at University of Buenos Aires law school, Argentina. Photograph: Marcos Brindicci/Reuters
Edward Snowden speaks via video link during a conference at University of Buenos Aires law school, Argentina. Photograph: Marcos Brindicci/Reuters

Norway’s supreme court has rejected Edward Snowden’s request for a legal guarantee that would allow him to collect an award in the Scandinavian country without risk of being extradited to the US.

The supreme court upheld decisions by lower courts that also refused the request.

An Oslo law firm filed the lawsuit in April on behalf of the former National Security Agency contractor and the Norwegian chapter of the free speech and literary organisation Pen, which had invited him to receive its Ossietzky Prize.

Mr Snowden, who is in Russia, faces charges in the US that could land him in prison for up to 30 years for leaking details of a secret US eavesdropping programme to journalists.

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