© www.express.co.ukThe people speak out in defense of their defender.
The petition will be considered by the Scottish Parliament's Public Petitions Committee, which allows individual voters to put forward proposals.
It has been lodged by former university lecturer Mick Napier, who says Snowden deserves political asylum.
Napier's petition says Snowden "revealed uncontested information on the extensive surveillance undertaken by the British GCHQ and the US NSA to the extent that they furtively collect all emails and text messages of every citizen."
It adds: "For this we owe him a debt of gratitude and the award of political asylum would be a demonstration of that gratitude."
© www.andrewcarnegiesinternationallegacy.orgScotland's Parliament in session.
The precise location of Snowden, who faces espionage charges from US authorities, has been secret ever since.
But he took part in a phone-in with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, quizzing him on Moscow's surveillance activities.
The 30-year-old was elected rector of Glasgow University by students in February.
Scotland will hold a referendum on independence on September 18.
Support for independence stands at 34 percent, compared to 46 percent who want to stay in the United Kingdom, according to an ICM poll of 1,003 people published Sunday.
. . . to Snowden, I do NOT believe this would be of any benefit to him in any event.
Given the oft-demonstrated proclivity of the US to ignore laws (domestic, foreign, and international) whenever it suits the gov't, I would expect that the US would simply execute an "extraordinary rendition" operation, using armed agents, if necessary, in order to bring him back. This was widely reported to have been done in the Abu Omar case, against Italian law and in spite of Italy being a long-term NATO ally. I fully expect that this was a NOT a singular event but that it is quite normal, even though other instances do not often come to light publicly.
IMO, the bottom line is that if Snowden values his freedom, he needs to remain in a jurisdiction that provides him asylum and is WILLING AND FULLY ABLE to guarantee it by virtue of its own power. Scotland may be willing but could not credibly physically oppose any such rendition attempt.
The downside for Snowden to remaining in Russia is that while Putin has thus far not kowtowed to the US in his case by sacrificing principle for the sake of expediency, it is unknowable if his successor will be willing to do the same.