Snowden says risks death penalty in asylum request [View all]

[struggle4progress]

AFP - Fugitive US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden told Poland in an asylum request that he risks the death penalty at home, after he disclosed Washington's alleged violations of the US constitution and global treaties ...

Pointing to the ongoing US trial of WikiLeaks informant Bradley Manning, Snowden said "it is unlikely that I would receive a fair trial of proper treatment prior to trial, and face the possibility of life in prison or even death."

Snowden made the claim in a fax bearing his signature to Poland's embassy in Moscow. Dated June 30, the Polish foreign ministry made it public on Tuesday.

"No asylum request meeting all formal conditions has arrived. And even if it did, I wouldn't give it a positive recommendation," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski tweeted Tuesday, ruling the fax as insufficient documentation for an asylum claim ...

http://www.france24.com/en/20130702-snowden-says-risks-death-penalty-asylum-request

The 14 June criminal complaint (.pdf) actually alleges violations of 18 USC 641 (theft of government property), 18 USC 793(d) (unauthorized communication of national defense information), and 18 USC 798(a)(3) (willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person): each carries a maximum penalty of ten (10) years imprisonment, together with a possible fine