Snowden case lawyer appeals to Trudeau

The Canadian lawyer for refugees who helped whistleblower Edward Snowden evade capture in Hong Kong has appealed directly to Justin Trudeau to admit them to this country.

In a letter, Rob Tibbo asks the Liberal leader to intervene on behalf of two families still stranded in the city, after another of Snowden’s helpers and her daughter won refugee status in January.

Two of the five migrants remaining in Hong Kong are children and are related to the young girl admitted earlier this year, meaning the government has in effect divided a family, he wrote Oct. 3.

The lawyer asked the prime minister to think of his own family. “The question I have raised many times of late,” Tibbo said to Trudeau, “is considering you have three children of similar age to the Snowden refugee children, why has there been a failure to immediately act to protect all three stateless children?”

Tibbo and the Montreal group Lawyers Without Borders, which is spearheading the refugee applications, fear time is running out for the five still in Hong Kong, with deportation from the territory possible at almost any time.

They also worry about the group’s psychological well being, especially that of Sethmundi Kellapatha, a seven-year-old Sri Lankan girl who they say is subject to constant racial taunting at school.

Tibbo admitted in an interview Tuesday the lawyers are concerned as well that if the Conservatives win the election on Monday, their government may be less sympathetic to the refugees’ plight.

The PMO responded to the letter by saying that Trudeau is “unable to personally intervene.”