Edward Snowden Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

by John Glaser | Jul 16, 2013 | 55 comments

Stefan Svallfors, a Swedish professor on the Nobel Committee, has nominated NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden for a Nobel Peace Prize. Svallfors says Snowden deserves it due to his "heroic effort," and notes that it would help recover the prize's "disrepute" following the "hasty and ill-conceived" decision to award it to Barack Obama. An excerpt from Svallfors's letter:

Edward Snowden has - in a heroic effort at great personal cost - revealed the existence and extent of the surveillance, the U.S. government devotes electronic communications worldwide. By putting light on this monitoring program - conducted in contravention of national laws and international agreements - Edward Snowden has helped to make the world a little bit better and safer. The decision to award the 2013 prize to Edward Snowden would - in addition to being well justified in itself - also help to save the Nobel Peace Prize from the disrepute that incurred by the hasty and ill-conceived decision to award U.S. President Barack Obama 2009 award.

Via POLITICO, here's WikiLeaks on the nomination:

Now Manning, Assange and Snowden have all been formally nominated for the Nobel.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) July 15, 2013

The Nobel Peace prize however, is corrupt. Overseen by Norwegian and Swedish establishments, it has become an instrument of foreign policy.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) July 15, 2013