Elon Musk starts new Twitter poll on whether Assange and Snowden should be pardoned

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who recently acquired Twitter, again made headlines after posting a new tweet poll regarding US former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Following the reports that Snowden has received a Russian passport and Assange submitted an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Musk asked, “Should Assange and Snowden be pardoned?” Further, the new Twitter CEO did clarify that he is not expressing his opinion but he said, “promise to conduct this poll.”  

Following the publication of the poll, the tweet received 13.7K Retweets, 1,460 Quote Tweets as well as 32.1K Likes. While there are still 23 hours left for the voting to end, it has currently received nearly 611,083 votes. Among the total, 79.7% have selected the ‘yes’ option to support Musk’s statement, while 20.3% have opted for ‘no’. 

More on Edward Snowden and Julian Assange

Furthermore, this poll came as Edward Snowden, who gained notoriety for leaking secret information about American surveillance programs, has pledged allegiance to Russia, where he has been living in exile since 2013. It is important to note that Snowden is said to have obtained his passport and taken the oath on Thursday, some three months after Russian President Vladimir Putin granted him citizenship. When the US cancelled Snowden's passport in 2013, he was stranded in a Moscow airport for a couple of weeks. In the end, he was granted permanent residency in Russia, which protected him from US authorities. He leaked the confidential US intelligence budget, according to the Associated Press, as well as the extent of American surveillance of foreign authorities, including the leaders of partner countries. 

Besides this, Assange has filed an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights in an effort to stop his extradition from Britain to the United States, where he is pursued on criminal charges. The 51-year-old Assange is wanted by US officials on 18 counts, which include one under an espionage act, related to WikiLeaks' publication of substantial quantities of secret US diplomatic cables and military records, which Washington claimed had put lives in danger. 

Although Britain has granted the go-ahead for his extradition, Julian Assange has filed an appeal at the London High Court. The first hearing is scheduled for the beginning of next year. Additionally, his legal team has filed a complaint against Britain with the ECHR, which may result in an order to halt the extradition. 

(Image: AP)