Editorials Call for Clemency for Edward Snowden as a Whistleblower

Two newspapers have published editorials defending former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden as a whistleblower who did a service for his country.

The New York Times and Britain's The Guardian both pushed for President Barack Obama to pardon Snowden and give him incentive to leave his exile in Russia to come home, Yahoo! News reported.

Gawker called the NY Times editorial "perhaps the most mainstream defense of Edward Snowden yet."

Listing the two federal judges who ruled the NSA likely violated the Constitution as well as numerous other proofs, the NY Times defended Snowden for exposing "how the agency has exceeded its mandate and abused its authority."

The paper advocated for at least partial clemency for the man on the run, pushing for the U.S. to offer Snowden a plea bargain or at least "substantially reduced punishment" because of his role as a whistleblower for the attack on Americans' privacy.

"Considering the enormous value of the information he has revealed, and the abuses he has exposed, Mr. Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear and flight," the NY Times said. "He may have committed a crime to do so, but he has done his country a great service."

The paper also noted that since he was a contractor, Snowden wasn't under the whistleblower protection that Obama had earlier signed into law. Snowden also said in a recent interview that he tried to talk to two superiors about the NSA's massive data collection and they did nothing.

Snowden has been charged in a criminal complaint on three counts: two violations of the Espionage Act involving unauthorized communication of classified information and a charge of theft of government property, according to the NY Times editorial. The charges carry prison sentences of at least a decade each, and the government is highly likely to add more charges that may bring a life sentence, the editorial said.

When Yahoo asked White House national security spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden to comment on the editorials, she cited earlier appeals from the Obama administration that Snowden return home and face trial, the outlet reported.