US officials “want to kill me,” warns Edward Snowden
In an interview broadcast Sunday night by the German public television network ARD, Edward Snowden warned that there were “significant threats” to his life. US “government officials want to kill me.” ● The former contractor for the National Security Agency, who has exposed dozens of illegal NSA surveillance and spying programs, was speaking from Moscow, where he has been granted temporary political asylum. “These people, and they are government officials, have said they would love to put a bullet in my head or poison me when I come out of the supermarket, and then watch as I die in the shower,” he told ARD’s Hubert Seipel, who said the interview took place last Thursday. Snowden was referring to the scenario detailed by an unnamed military officer who spoke to the Buzzfeed web site last week. “I think if we had the chance, we would end it very quickly,” the officer said. “Just casually walking on the streets of Moscow… he is casually poked by a passerby… He goes home very innocently and next thing you know he dies in the shower.” An unnamed NSA analyst was quoted by Buzzfeed as follows: “In a world where I would not be restricted from killing an American, I personally would go and kill him myself.”
Snowden-Interview: TRANSCRIPT
ARD/tagesschau.de: "USA betreiben Wirtschaftsspionage" - Video
Reuters: Snowden says 'significant threats' to his life
Bill Van Auken: Defend Edward Snowden!