Link of the day Jan 26 2014: Defence lawyer explains why Edward Snowden could never have a fair trial in the United States

English: Thomas Drake, NSA Whistleblower (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jesselyn Radack, Government Accountability Project (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Image by None via CrunchBase

 A woman lawyer called Jesselyn Radack has developed a full answer, in a fascinating article in the Wall Street Journal to that army of politicians, journalists and other commentators, who say that Edward Snowden should just return to the United States, where he will be given “a fair trial.” Ms Radack was legal adviser to former NSA senior executive Thomas Drake and former CIA officer John Kiriakou, two whistleblowers who were denied fair trials when accused under the 1917 Espionage Act, passed when the United States entered the First World War. She says that all other objections to the process aside --- and they are many ---  it will cost anything from one million to three million dollars to mount a defence, something that ruined Thomas Drake and reduced him to indigent status.

The details of how inappropriate is this Act which does notrecognize the existence of whistleblowers, can be read here in Ms. Radack’sarticle, headlined Why Edward SnowdenWouldn't Get a Fair Trial: The Espionage Act of 1917 wasn't intended to prosecutewhistleblowers like him—or Bradley Manning.