And he’s gone. Screams the latest SCMP headline (all-caps theirs):
SNOWDEN LEAVES HONG KONG ON COMMERCIAL FLIGHT TO MOSCOW
The report isn’t confirmed, but SCMP notes that Snowden “would continue on to another country.” The Hong Kong government issued a short statement today, in which it said the US’s request for extradition “did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law.”
Since the documents provided by the US Government did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law, the HKSAR Government has requested the US Government to provide additional information so that the Department of Justice could consider whether the US Government’s request can meet the relevant legal conditions. As the HKSAR Government has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr Snowden from leaving Hong Kong.
Snowden’s most recent accusation against the US was that the government spies on cell phones and Beijing’s Tsinghua University.
UPDATE, 6/24, 5:53 am: The latest report is that Snowden is off to either Cuba or Venezuela next.
