LONDON’S Green Euro-MP Jean Lambert has called on the UK to offer US whistle-blower Edward Snowden a home and protection from prosecution ahead of World Press Freedom Day, which is marked today.
She said: “The Government keeps saying we need to defend whistle-blowers – the question is, how brave is it on this issue?
“Edward Snowden, and the journalists on both sides of the Atlantic who reported his revelations, have made a significant personal sacrifice to expose threats to our freedom – and now we should defend theirs.
“As Greens said in the European Parliament: Edward Snowden deserves a prize, not prosecution.”
“The UN has observed that journalists and whistle-blowers often report on the very corruption which harms development and poverty-reduction most. What example do we set if we don’t protect those who blow the whistle on our own Government?”
Ms Lambert made her comments on World Press Freedom Day, which this year celebrates the role of a free press in development – and laments the fact that at least 600 journalists have been killed worldwide in the last decade alone.
“Only when journalists are at liberty to monitor, investigate and criticize policies and actions can good governance exist,”Ms Lambert added.
Ms Lambert, who marked Word Press Freedom Day by taking action to raise awareness of the issue outside the London offices of the UK’s Guardian newspaper, said:“We need a responsible, free press, independent of government interference and persecution, to help deliver a fairer, more free and more sustainable world. Jean was joined outside the Guardian by fellow London Green MEP candidates Danny Bates and Shahrar Ali and Green councillor for Camden Maya de Souza.