A “Pardon Edward Snowden” petition created Sunday has garnered support from thousands across the country, racking up more than 25,000 signatures, and counting.
The petition, listed on the White House’s “We the People” website, calls for a full pardon of the National Security Agency whistleblower, hailing Snowden “a national hero.”
If the petition gathers 100,000 signatures, it will require an official response from White House officials.
Lawmakers have urged the Obama administration to prosecute Snowden for revealing classified information, and a spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence said that the case has been referred to the Justice Department for review, the Hill reported.
Snowden has not technically been charged with a crime, though an official pardon would allow him to return to the United States. He has reportedly been staying at a hotel in Hong Kong due to the region’s “spirited commitment to free speech and the right of political dissent.”
According to NPR, he is most recently reported to be seeking asylum in Iceland.
The former NSA employee and government contractor revealed himself Sunday as the source in multiple stories about Verizon phone tracking and the PRISM internet surveillance program that broke in The Guardian and The Washington Post, respectively.
The petition, created by a user in Rochester, N.Y., reads: “Edward Snowden is a national hero and should be immediately issued a full, free, and absolute pardon for any crimes he has committed or may have committed related to blowing the whistle on secret NSA surveillance programs.”
Administration officials have defended Verizon stating that only metadata — which includes the length of calls and phone numbers — was collected through the surveillance. Additionally, the companies named in the PRISM news reports — notably Google, Apple and Facebook — have stated they did not give the government direct access to their servers and have never heard of the PRISM program.
