Switzerland flags 'safe passage' for Edward Snowden to spying inquiry
Safe passage possible for whistle-blower if he aided criminal probe of US spying, prosecutor says
Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden could be granted safe passage in Switzerland if he helped a potential criminal inquiry into US spying there, the Swiss public prosecutor's office said.
He would probably not be extradited to the United States if Washington asked, but it was also unlikely that he would be granted political asylum, according to a document laying out Switzerland's legal options if Snowden were to visit.
The prosecutor's office, which provided the document on Monday, emphasised the issue was purely hypothetical because Snowden had not been invited to leave his refuge in Russia. It had no further comment.
The document, which was leaked last week, prompted lively debate in the Swiss media.
Some German politicians have suggested inviting Snowden to Germany to testify about United States National Security Agency (NSA) spying there, but Berlin has ruled that out to avoid a clash with Washington over extraditing him to the US.
Michael McCaul, Republican head of the US House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security, reacted to the Swiss debate by telling the US-based Foreign Policy magazine that Snowden should not be allowed to "trade our intelligence community's sources and methods for safe haven in other countries".