Hong Kong's Failure to Extradite Edward Snowden: More Than Just a Technical Defect

As the Edward Snowden case takes legs and exhibits all the earmarks of official misconduct and scandal, the U.S. government continues efforts aimed at extraditing this "whistleblower," characterizing him as a traitor and doing damage control in the NSA. Part of this strategy includes intimidating those sovereign states that refuse to coooperate in returning Snowden to face trial.Yet, the legal basis for these U.S. efforts is highly contentious. If Snowden had stayed in Hong Kong and fought extradition, in all likelihood he would have prevailed. Thus, the U.S. is left with not credible basis for complaint, and its retaliatory diplomatic measures against other states are without merit.

This essay reviews Snowden's defenses under the double criminality principle and the political offense exception according to Hong Kong law, applying the British "incidence"standard,and casts light on a self defeating U.S. Policy.