{"id":10216,"date":"2017-03-09T21:50:47","date_gmt":"2017-03-09T21:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/refugees-who-sheltered-edward-snowden-seek-canada-asylum\/"},"modified":"2017-03-09T21:50:47","modified_gmt":"2017-03-09T21:50:47","slug":"refugees-who-sheltered-edward-snowden-seek-canada-asylum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/refugees-who-sheltered-edward-snowden-seek-canada-asylum\/","title":{"rendered":"Refugees who sheltered Edward Snowden seek Canada asylum"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure>                                  <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"From left to right: Sri Lankan refugees Ajith Puspa, 45, and Supun Thilina Kellapatha, 32, his partner Nadeeka, 32, and Filipino refugee Vanessa Rodel, 40, in Hong Kong, 23 February 2017\" src=\"http:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/320\/cpsprodpb\/12E77\/production\/_94813477_snowdenasylum.jpg\"\/>Image copyright                  Getty Images<figcaption>Image caption                                      Ajith, 45, Supun, 32, his partner Nadeeka, 32, and Filipino refugee Vanessa Rodel, 40, in Hong Kong                              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"caps\">Refugees who sheltered rogue National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden in Hong Kong are seeking asylum in Canada.  <\/p>\n<p>The three families&#039; lawyers have filed claims on their behalf.  <\/p>\n<p>Some city legislators say two Sri Lankan nationals have been targeted by police from their own country who have travelled to Hong Kong. <\/p>\n<p>The refugee families fed and housed Mr Snowden for two weeks when he fled the US after leaking thousands of files. <\/p>\n<p>They are still living in poverty in Hong Kong and unable to work after providing a refuge for the American in July 2013. <\/p>\n<p>Their lawyers say it is &quot;a matter of life and death&quot; if they remain in the city. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sri Lanka &#039;hunting&#039; refugees who sheltered Snowden in Hong Kong<\/li>\n<li>Edward Snowden: Leaks that exposed US spy programme<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Mr Snowden - who now lives in Russia - tweeted on Thursday that he hoped Canada would grant their request. <\/p>\n<figure>                                                                                                       Image copyright                  Twitter<figcaption>Image caption                                      Edward Snowden shared his support on Twitter                              <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Canadian immigration lawyer Marc-Andre Seguin said that over the past few weeks the refugees&#039; lawyers felt they needed to take additional steps to speed up the process. <\/p>\n<p>&quot;It&#039;s very clear that discretionary power should be applied,&quot; he told the South China Morning Post, referring to the ability by Canada&#039;s immigration minister to expedite claims. <\/p>\n<p>Two of the refugees - Sri Lankan nationals Kellapatha Supun Thilina and Debagma Kankanalamage Ajith Pushpa Kumara - have said they are being illegally pursued by police from their own country. <\/p>\n<p>They fear being forcibly returned to Sri Lanka, and that they could face violence and torture.<\/p>\n<p>Sri Lankan police have denied the allegations.<\/p>\n<p>The refugees also say Hong Kong authorities have questioned them on their ties to Mr Snowden. <\/p>\n<p>Speaking to the AFP news agency, Vanessa Rodel - who is from the Philippines and among those seeking asylum in Canada - said: &quot;I am hopeful that we can get into Canada and start a new life (with) safety and freedom.&quot; <\/p>\n<p>Mr Seguin and others, including actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who played Mr Snowden in the eponymous film, have been trying to raise awareness about the refugees&#039; situation. <\/p>\n<p>Canadian officials have yet to respond to request for comment. <\/p>\n<p><a rel='nofollow' href=http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-us-canada-39222655 target=\"_blank\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image copyright Getty ImagesImage caption Ajith, 45, Supun, 32, his partner Nadeeka, 32, and Filipino refugee Vanessa Rodel, 40, in Hong Kong Refugees who sheltered rogue National Security Agency (NSA)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}