Alleged NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden faces extradition from China because of a treaty signed between Hong Kong and the United States, according to reports.
The ex-CIA and National Security Agency employee currently resides in Hong Kong after he published a series of top-secret documents outlining two NSA surveillance programs.
According to CBS News, one series lists millions of U.S. phone records while searching for possible links to known terrorist targets abroad and the second allows "the government to tap into nine U.S. Internet companies to gather all domestic Internet usage to detect suspicious behavior that begins overseas."
Government officials seek aggressive prosecution for Snowden's case and urge the U.S. to apply for extradition immediately. The U.S. has an extradition treaty with Hong King.
"The treaty governs the transfer of suspected criminals between the U.S. and Hong Kong, which have a well-established record of bilateral cooperation," according to ABC News. The extradition process for Snowden may take years.
Before an extradition case may proceed, the U.S. must decide to press charges and present probable cause to Hong Kong authorities. The alleged crime must also meet the treaty's "dual criminality," meaning the offense must be punishable by imprisonment of more than one year in both countries.
Once Hong Kong officials have probable cause, they may hold Snowden for 60 days pending a formal extradition request from the United States, and it would be up to authorities to decide whether they will comply with the request.
According the ABC News, there are two reasons why Hong Kong would refuse to send Snowden back to the United States:
(1) Beijing could intervene and order Hong Kong officials not to surrender Snowden, citing "defense, foreign affairs or essential public interest or policy" reasons, per the treaty. Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China.
(2) The Chinese could also refuse to hand over Snowden if they believe an extradition request is "politically motivated," or designed to punish a suspect for "political opinion," or if they believe complying would deny him a fair trial, the agreement says.
Whether he is extradited or not, Snowden believes exposing U.S. intelligence gathering techniques is the right thing to do, as he wants to protect citizen civil liberties.
"Even if you're not doing anything wrong, you're being watched and recorded. You simply have to eventually fall under suspicion from somebody," Snowden told The Guardian. "Even by a wrong call, and then they can use the system to go back in time and scrutinize every decision you've ever made, every friend you've ever discussed something with."
