A proposal introduced by some lawmakers in the Iceland Parliament to grant citizenship to the American whistleblower Edward Snowden has failed to find support.
Edward Snowden, former CIA analyst, is holed up in the transit zone of an international airport in Moscow since his flight from Hong Kong following an arrest warrant issued by the Washington government on charges of espionage and theft of government property.
Washington has evoked Snowden's passport and warned that whichever country shelters him could jeopardize its relationship with the U.S. government.
Six members of a minority party in the Iceland Parliament proposed to grant him a citizenship as it would help Snowden to get asylum in Iceland.
In 2005, the same country granted citizenship to chess master Bobby Fischer who escaped to Iceland from Japan to avoid prosecution in U.S. for breaking sanctions against former Yugoslavia.
The citizenship proposal received only six votes from the 63 members of parliament, according to the Associated Press.
The American whistleblower has requested more than twenty countries for asylum but several of them including India, Norway, Brazil and Germany have rejected his application.
It is reported that President Obama has assigned Vice President Joe Biden to pressurize all countries against granting asylum to the U.S. fugitive Snowden.
