One of Edward Snowden’s attorneys is portraying the NSA leaker as a “kid” who went to Hong Kong without a plan and underestimated the amount of attention he would receive after he revealed himself as the source of the government leaks earlier in the month.
Albert Ho, a partner at a prominent Hong Kong law firm, spoke to the New York Times about how the plans unfolded over the last week for Snowden to leave Hong Kong.
“He’s a kid, I really think he’s a kid, I think he never anticipated this would be such a big matter in Hong Kong,” Ho said in the article published Monday. “He enjoys Pepsi, he prefers Pepsi to wine, that’s why I say he’s a kid.”
According to Ho, Snowden was upset to learn that he may have to spend years in prison during litigation over whether he would be granted asylum in Hong Kong or be sent to the United States. He was particularly scared that he could lose access to his computer.
“He didn’t go out, he spent all his time inside a tiny space, but he said it was O.K. because he had his computer,” Ho said. “If you were to deprive him of his computer, that would be totally intolerable.”
WikiLeaks tweeted a word of caution Monday to journalists about Ho and the “gossip” he is spreading, saying that lawyers would uphold client privacy.
Journalists: treat gossip coming from a Mr. Albert Ho, reported to be Mr. Snowden’s “lawyer,” with caution; lawyers uphold client privacy.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 24, 2013
