Families who hid Snowden eye Canada

MONTREAL • The families who sheltered U.S. fugitive Edward Snowden in Hong Kong need to be brought to Canada immediately while the country processes their asylum claims, their lawyers said Monday.

Hong Kong-based attorney Robert Tibbo said Canada needs to take this “exceptional” step and allow the seven people to enter the country after the Hong Kong government rejected their asylum applications last Friday.

The seven people — four adults and their three children — allegedly helped hide Snowden when the fugitive was in the region in 2013 after he leaked documents revealing extensive U.S. government surveillance.

They were put in contact with Snowden because they share Tibbo as a lawyer.

Speaking from Hong Kong through a video conference, surrounded by the seven refugee applicants, the Canadian-born Tibbo told reporters they have two weeks to appeal the decision or risk deportation to their countries of origin, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, where they fear for their safety.

He asked for donations to help cover the $15,000 he said it will cost to file the appeals.

There is little chance their appeals will be successful, however, Tibbo said.

“The solution is Canada,” he said, adding the country is one of a handful of jurisdictions that permit a review of refugee applications from people who haven’t been screened by the UN.

Tibbo said the Hong Kong government doesn’t allow the UN to screen refugee applicants into the country.

Michael Simkin, part of the families’ legal team, said in Montreal his clients’ file could be handled “within days” in Canada if the government wanted to.

“More importantly, if they were willing they could bring the families to Canada as an exceptional measure” while their claims are processed, he said. “It has been done before and can be done again.”

The families’ lawyers say the Hong Kong government rejected their applications because it believes the Philippines and Sri Lanka are able to protect them.

Tibbo said he has “no regrets” about his decision to introduce the families to Snowden.

“They made fully informed decisions but at the same time I feel a moral responsibility,” he said. “With Mr. Snowden moving on from Hong Kong it is my view my clients shouldn’t be left behind.”

The group includes Ajith Pushpakumara, a former Sri Lankan soldier; Vanessa Mae Rodel, who is from the Philippines and has a five-yearold daughter; and a Sri Lankan couple, Supun Thilina Kellapatha and Nadeeka Dilrukshi Nonis, and their two children.

All four adults told reporters via video conference that they had no regrets sheltering Snowden.

Tibbo decided to go public with their identities last year after learning that movie director Oliver Stone had found out about them and would incorporate their roles into his film on Snowden, released in October.

But the three families, who didn’t realize they were harbouring one of the world’s most wanted figures at the time, said they feared being sent back.

“I’m an army deserter person,” said Ajith, adding that if he returned to Sri Lanka, “I will be tortured again. I don’t want to be tortured.”

The Hong Kong government said in a statement that asylum claims are handled in a “fair, impartial and efficient manner,” and that it found “no substantial grounds for believing that the claimants, if returned to their country of origin, will be subject to real and substantial risk of danger.”

Snowden remains in exile in Russia. He has been charged with espionage in the United States and could face up to 30 years in prison.

ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP / GETTY IMAGES Lawyer Robert Tibbo, right, with his clients who sheltered Edward Snowden while he was in Hong Kong. Tibbo says his clients are in danger of being deported to their native countries of Sri Lanka and the Philippines.