ACLU backs Snowden pardon request

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has joined the campaign asking President Obama to pardon whistleblower Edward Snowden. 

{mosads}Snowden, a former contractor for the National Security Agency, faces at least 30 years in jail for violating the Espionage Act after leaking thousands of government documents that fundamentally altered the public’s understanding of U.S. spying and led to legislative reform.

A team of supporters, including the ACLU, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, are lobbying Obama to pardon Snowden before he leaves office in January. 

“Snowden should be hailed as a hero. Instead, he is exiled in Moscow, and faces decades in prison under World War One-era charges that treat him like a spy,” reads the website pardonsnowden.org, which was launched Wednesday by the three groups.

ACLU is proud to announce that we have joined the campaign to ask @POTUS to pardon Snowden. Follow @PardonSnowden for more. #PardonSnowden

— ACLU National (@ACLU) September 14, 2016

In 2013, Snowden leaked a trove of classified documents about top-secret surveillance programs to journalists.

“Ed stood up for us, and it’s time for us to stand up for him. Urge President Obama to pardon Edward Snowden, and let him come home with dignity,” the site says.

As Obama prepares to leave office, Snowden is stepping up his case for a pardon. 

Snowden said in an interview with The Guardian Tuesday that a review of the consequences of the leak would show that people benefited from it. 

“Yes, there are laws on the books that say one thing, but that is perhaps why the pardon power exists — for the exceptions, for the things that may seem unlawful in letters on a page but when we look at them morally, when we look at them ethically, when we look at the results, it seems these were necessary things. These were vital things,” he said.

“I think when people look at the calculations of benefit, it is clear that in the wake of 2013, the laws of our nation changed. The Congress, the courts and the president all changed their policies as a result of these disclosures. At the same time, there has never been any public evidence that any individual came to harm as a result.”