Sebuah Catatan Dari Alam dan Pengalaman: Edward Snowden missing after failing to catch flight he booked to Cuba

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

The 30-year-old fugitive had been booked to leave Moscow but a photo of his empty plane seat emerged.

CIA whistleblower Edward Snowden was missing tonight after failing to make a flight to Cuba.

The 30-year-old fugitive had been booked to leave Moscow but a photo of his empty plane seat emerged.

It sparked rumours that Russia had stopped him and was preparing to send him home after the US said it “expects” his extradition.

The former technician, who faces up to 30 years in jail if convicted of theft and espionage in the US, has applied to Ecuador for asylum.

Today Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said his government was analysing the request “with responsibility”.

He also read excerpts from the application where Snowden said it was “unlikely I will have a fair trial or humane treatment” in America.

Reports in the US said the former CIA man had checked in for his flight and had been seen in Moscow airport with an activist from the WikiLeaks website.

While Snowden’s passport had been revoked, WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange said that Ecuador had given the whistleblower a refugee travel document.

It came as US Secretary of State John Kerry blasted China and Russia for giving Snowden refuge.

Mr Kerry said it would be disappointing if they helped him evade extradition – and warned of “consequences” if either country had.

Snowden has left behind ballerina girlfriend Lindsay Mills, who wrote on her blog of her heartbreak.