Edward Snowden: The Government Can’t Stop Me Through Murder (Updated)

Taking questions from readers online at The Guardian today, whistleblower Edward Snowden said the government can’t stop the truth from getting out, even if he is jailed or murdered. 

Snowden is a former NSA contractor who is the source of Glenn Greenwald’s stories about a government data surveillance program in the U.S. 

Snowden at one point suggested he is being targeted by the government for either jail or murder. He answered one reader’s question as such:

“All I can say right now is the the US government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped.”

In his remarks, Snowden also called U.S. surveillance operations “nakedly, aggressively criminal acts” that are “wrong no matter the target.”

Asked why he waited to release the documents, Snowden replied: “Unfortunately, shortly after assuming power, [Obama] closed the door on investigating systemic violations of law, deepened and expanded several abusive programs, and refused to spend the political capital to end the kind of human rights violations like we see in Guantanamo, where men still sit without charge.”

You can read the full conversation here.