US Fugitive Snowden's Asylum Options Narrow Down

Iceland and France have both denied political asylum to US fugitive Edward Snowden.

MPs in Iceland filed a motion to immediately grant citizenship to Snowden but it did not receive support in the parliament.

The initiative came from members of the Pirate Party that is represented in the legislature.

Only 6 MPs Out of the 63 voted "for" granting citizenship to the US whistleblower, RBK Daily reports.

France also stated that it rejects Snowden's application for political asylum, news agency "Focus" reported.

"Like many other countries, France received a request for political asylum by Mr. Edward Snowden via the embassy in Moscow. After making the due diligence and considering the situation of the party concerned, France would not give their consent," a statement from the French Interior Ministry said.

Meanwhile, the Irish government received a request for the arrest of Edward Snowden by the US authorities, "Irish Times" reported.

The Department for extradition to the Department for fighting crime and security enforcing of the Irish police will examine the order.

The arrest warrant is issued with the aim to prevent Snowden's attempts to escape from US authorities.

It is believed that the former US intelligence officer may try to get to Cuba on a flight from the Moscow airport, when the plane stops to refuel in Ireland.

Snowden has deposited applications for asylum in 21 countries.

Austria, Brazil, Finland, India, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Spain and Switzerland already denied his request.

Snowden withdrew the application to stay in Russia after he was informed about the conditions that the Russian president Vladimir Putin had.

Putin said on Monday that Snowden can stay in Russia if he "no longer harms the United States."

According to unconfirmed reports Venezuela might offer asylum to Snowden.

On June 6, 2013, the Guardian and the Washington Post broke news that America's National Security Agency (NSA) was tracking millions of European's data.

The leak by former NSA officer Edward Snowden caused international furor.

Based on the Snowden's findings, Washington Post points the tech giants Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook, YouTube, PalTalk, AOL and Yahoo as participants in the program called PRISM.

The most recent scandal flared after Snowden's leak revealing the US was targeting and spying on a number of EU and non-EU allies.

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