Sunday Times 2
The Lankans who protected Edward Snowden
Left: Asylum seekers Vanessa Mae Bondalian Rodel, 42, from the Philippines, and Ajith Pushpakumara, 44, from Sri Lanka, who helped hiding Edward Snowden, attend a special screening of the film ‘Snowden’ directed by Oliver Stone, in Hong Kong, on September 30. Pic Reuters
Vanessa Mae Bondalian Rodel, a Filipino refugee living in a tiny subsidized apartment with her daughter in Hong Kong, had no idea that the young bespectacled American who showed up on her doorstep one night in May 2013 asking for shelter was the most wanted man in the world.
It was not until the following day, when her mysterious houseguest asked for a newspaper, that Rodel recognized him from a photo on the front page depicting Edward Snowden, the fugitive NSA contractor who had just leaked a massive cache of highly classified information exposing government surveillance to The Guardian.
Rodel and other members of Hong Kong’s marginalized community of asylum seekers opened their humble homes to the high-profile whistle-blower, who for a while bounced between them to avoid detection by the authorities before fleeing to Russia.
That spring, the former intelligence contractor had quit his job with the National Security Agency and travelled to Hong Kong where he initiated one of the largest data leaks in US history, fuelling a firestorm over the issue of mass surveillance.
Although Snowden stayed in the five-star Mira Hotel before the leak, little was known of his situation afterwards.
But a report last month revealed he had been given shelter by some of the city’s 14,500 asylum-seekers.
One of them was Ms. Rodel. In an interview with CNN, the woman recalled the moment she realised who her new acquaintance was: ‘I said, “Oh, my God. The most wanted man in the world is in my house!”’
Rodel revealed that she and her daughter, then a toddler, offered their bed to Snowden while they slept on the kitchen floor for the duration of his stay, which lasted several days.
Selfless act: During his stay in Hong Kong, Snowden briefly lodged with the family of Sri Lankan national Supun Kellapatha, who gave up his family’s bed to his guest. Pic CNN
During that time, Rodel would go out to buy Snowden sweets and equipment for his laptop.
Ajith Puspakumara, 44, a former soldier from Sri Lanka who has been living in Hong Kong since 2003, in a similar fashion opened his home to Snowden in 2013, giving up his bed for several nights before it was time for the American fugitive to move on to another asylum seeker’s home.
At one point during his turbulent stay in Hong Kong in May of 2013, Snowden lodged with the family of another Sri Lankan national, Supun Kellapatha, who also gave up his family’s bed to his notorious guest.
‘We are part of history because we did good things,’ he told CNN.
The idea to hide Edward Snowden in the midst of the 14,000-strong community of asylum seekers living on the fringes of Hong Kong’s society came to his Canadian attorney Robert Tibbo, who represented some of the refugees on a pro bono basis.
‘I advised Mr. Snowden it would be in his best interest to be placed with the refugee families in a populated area, as that would be the last place that anybody would look,’ Tibbo told the network.
The lawyer praised the families who agreed to take Snowden in after his escape from the luxury Mira Hotel, saying: ‘People with the least to give, gave the most.’
The poverty-stricken refugees’ selfless efforts to help the beleaguered former contractor were immortalized in Oliver Stone’s new thriller, Snowden.
In the film, an actor playing Tibbo brings a jittery Snowden, portrayed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, to an asylum-seeking family, reassuring him that his hosts are good people who would not talk to the authorities because they themselves are ‘stateless.’
America’s most wanted fugitive was dressed in all black and disguised in a dark hat and glasses when his lawyers smuggled him to slum-like districts such as Sham Shui Po.
Unwitting host: Vanessa Rodel says she did not know who Edward Snowden was when he come knocking on her door one night in May 2013, seeking shelter. Pic CNN
The 33-year-old stayed with at least four refugees, according to a National Post report, all clients of Robert Tibbo.
Other refugees from Sri Lanka said they were not worried about hosting Snowden, and felt he was taking a greater risk than they were.
One family told how he left money for them under a pillow before he left.
Snowden has since sent sent each of the refugees $1,000 each for the danger they put themselves in. Vanessa Rodel said her former houseguest helped send her daughter to kindergarten.
On September 30, Rodel and Ajith Pushpakumara, who also briefly sheltered Snowden, attended a special screening of Stone’s film in Hong Kong.
Their attorney, Mr Tibbo, says he hopes the star-studded thriller will shine a spotlight on the plight of an estimated 14,500 asylum seekers living in Hong Kong, where they are not allowed to legally work.
‘They had a hundred chances to betray me while I was amongst them, and no one could have blamed them, given their precarious situations. But they never did,’ Snowden told the National Post.
‘If not for their compassion, my story could have ended differently. They taught me no matter who you are, no matter what you have, sometimes a little courage can change the course of history.’
Snowden came to Hong Kong on May 20, 2013 and began a damaging series of leaks about the NSA eavesdropping of phones and computer systems that triggered concern from governments worldwide.
Media were clambering to find the whistleblower from the time he checked out of his five-star hotel on June 10 to the day he left the city for Moscow on June 23, escaping the clutches of US justice.
He was disguised in a black outfit and smuggled into the slums of Hong Kong to hide out for two weeks. Pic AFP
He never meant to call Moscow his home but his passport was cancelled mid-flight meaning he could not travel to South America as he’d planned.
In July 2014, Snowden was reunited with his long-term girlfriend Lindsay Mills in Russia.
The dancer joined Snowden after it emerged he wasn’t going to be heading back to the States anytime soon.
Earlier this year, speaking via Skype from Russia, Snowden told an audience of supporters in New Hampshire that he is willing to be extradited to the United States if the federal government would guarantee he would get a fair trial.
He faces US charges that could land him in prison for up to 30 years.
‘I’ve told the government I would return if they would guarantee a fair trial where I can make a public interest defense of why this was done and allow a jury to decide,’ Snowden told his audience.
Snowden has previously spoken of making offers to the government to return home and his willingness to discuss a plea deal and even go to jail.
© Daily Mail, London