Nicaragua: Snowden Asylum Offer Possible 'If Circumstances Permit'

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AppId is over the quota

MANAGUA, July 5 (Reuters) - Nicaragua has received an asylum request from fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden and could accept the bid "if circumstances permit," President Daniel Ortega said on Friday.

"We are an open country, respectful of the right of asylum, and it's clear that if circumstances permit, we would gladly receive Snowden and give him asylum in Nicaragua," Ortega said during a speech in the Nicaraguan capital Managua.

Ortega, an ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, did not elaborate on the conditions that would allow him to offer asylum to Snowden, who has been at the eye of a diplomatic storm since leaking high-level U.S. intelligence data last month.

Options have been narrowing for Snowden - believed to be staying in a transit area at a Moscow airport - as he seeks a country to shelter him from U.S. espionage charges.

A one-time Cold War adversary of the United States, Ortega belongs to a bloc of leftist leaders in Latin America that have frequently taken up antagonistic positions with Washington.

Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries in the Americas, has benefited greatly from financial support from Venezuela, and Ortega was a staunch ally of late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.

Chavez's successor Maduro voiced sympathy with Snowden and described him as a champion of human rights. That suggested Venezuela may help Snowden, who is stranded in Moscow after flying there from Hong Kong on June 23, to find a safe haven.

Snowden's bid for Icelandic citizenship hit an impasse earlier on Friday when the country's parliament voted not to debate it before the summer recess.

Afterwards, WikiLeaks announced that Snowden had applied to another six countries for asylum, adding to a list of more than a dozen countries which he has already asked for protection.

The anti-secrecy organization, which has been supporting Snowden's efforts to find a safe haven since his exit from Hong Kong 12 days ago, said on Twitter it could not reveal the names the countries due to "attempted U.S. interference". (Reporting by Ivan Castro; Editing by Philip Barbara)

Bradley Manning Petition Signers Offer To Serve His Sentence For Him

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WASHINGTON -- More than 1,500 Bradley Manning supporters have offered to serve part of the WikiLeaks source's potential 132.5-year sentence.

Manning is the 25-year-old Army private first class who was convicted Tuesday on 19 counts for sending a massive trove of documents to the anti-secrecy group. His case has become a cause celebre among many in the anti-war community who see his leaks of Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield reports as an act of conscience.

"Many Americans see what Manning did as a good thing -- and they are so strongly committed to it that they're willing to serve a sentence for him," said Kevin Zeese, an attorney and activist who serves on the steering committee of the Bradley Manning Support Network.

The petition, called "I Will Proudly Serve Part of Bradley Manning's Sentence," is directed at Maj. Gen. Jeffrey S. Buchanan, who as the convening authority for his trial will review whatever sentence military judge Col. Denise Lind declares.

So many have signed the petition at this point, Zeese noted, that if each took an equal part of Manning's potential maximum sentence they would serve less than a month.

"There's a lot of safety in numbers," he said. "We obviously recognize that the military is unlikely to let us serve his sentence, but the people who are signing up are really committed, so it's up to them whether this is more a symbol than a reality. From our perspective we are really offering to do this."

The sentencing phase of Manning's trial began on Wednesday, a day after his verdict was reached. It could last weeks. Testimony has so far established that the government could not link Manning's leaks to any deaths. Lind is unlikely to sentence Manning to the full 132.5 years, but he could nevertheless face a long prison term.

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