AMY GOODMAN: As we continue our coverage of Edward Snowden on the run, looking for political asylum, the foreign minister of Ecuador, Ricardo Patiño, is in Vietnam holding a news conference as we broadcast. He’s holding it in Spanish, but the rough translation we have, he says that Snowden feels he will not receive a fair trial, that Ecuador will act according to the framework of human rights and international law. Again, Ecuador has received a letter from Edward Snowden, asking for political asylum. Patiño says Ecuador places principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights above its own interests. He says Snowden finds himself persecuted by those who should be providing information to the world about what Snowden has revealed. Patiño says all the citizens in the world have been affected by the U.S. surveillance programs revealed by Snowden. Patiño says Ecuador’s constitution says it will guarantee the safety of people who publish opinions through the media and work in any form of communication. He says, “No human being will be considered illegal because of his immigration status. We do not do that in Ecuador.”
Michael Ratner, an attorney for Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, praised Ecuador for standing up to the United States. “They’re trying to bully other countries, not only by pulling his passport away so that he can’t travel, but by saying, ‘Send him back to us. Don’t take him in. There’ll be consequences. But none of those are legal.” More here.