US accuses Hong Kong of feigning confusion on Snowden name
“That Hong Kong would ask for more information about his identity demonstrates that it was simply trying to create a pretext for not acting on the provisional arrest request,” a US Justice Department spokeswoman said.
The United States accused Hong Kong of having feigned confusion over Edward Snowden’s middle name so as not to detain the former US intelligence contractor before he fled to Russia.
Hong Kong responded to the US demand for Snowden’s arrest on espionage charges by asking for a clarification of Snowden’s middle name, a US Justice Department spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the spokeswoman said that because Snowden’s image was widely available through news outlets, Hong Kong’s request for information was not genuine.
“That Hong Kong would ask for more information about his identity demonstrates that it was simply trying to create a pretext for not acting on the provisional arrest request,” the spokeswoman said.
She did not confirm an earlier report from the Associated Press that the US government got Snowden’s middle name wrong in documents it submitted to Hong Kong.
Hong Kong immigration records listed Snowden’s middle name as Joseph, while the US government used the name James in some documents, the US news agency said.