Federal prosecutors charge Edward Snowden over NSA leaks

The US government has filed a sealed criminal complaint Friday against Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who leaked secrets about American telephone and internet surveillance programs.

U.S. prosecutors have filed a sealed criminal complaint charging Edward Snowden, who disclosed American telephone and internet surveillance programs, with espionage, theft and conversion of government property, the Washington Post reported on Friday.

The United States also has asked Hong Kong to detain the former National Security Agency contractor on a provisional arrest warrant, the Post reported, citing unnamed U.S. officials. Snowden is reported to be in hiding in Hong Kong.

The criminal complaint was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, where Snowden's former employer, Booz Allen Hamilton, is located, the Post reported.

Documents leaked by Snowden revealed that U.S. security services had monitored data about phone calls from Verizon and Internet data from large companies such as Google and Facebook as part of counterterrorism efforts.

U.S. federal prosecutors, by filing a criminal complaint, lay claim to a legal basis to make the request of the authorities in Hong Kong, the Post reported. The prosecutors now have 60 days to file an indictment and can then take steps to secure Snowden's extradition from Hong Kong for a criminal trial in the United States, the newspaper reported.

Snowden would be able to challenge the U.S. request for his extradition in court in Hong Kong, the Post reported.

The newspaper noted the U.S. extradition treaty with Hong Kong has an exception for political offenses, and that espionage has been viewed as a political offense.

An Icelandic businessman linked to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said on Thursday he had readied a private plane in China to fly Snowden to Iceland if Iceland's government would grant asylum.

Iceland refused on Friday to say whether it would grant asylum to Snowden.

(Editing by Jim Loney)