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By Julie Makinen June 23, 2013, 1:44 a.m.
BEIJING -- Edward Snowden left Hong Kong on Sunday morning, officials in the Chinese territory said, and the former National Security Agency contractor was en route to a third country.
The South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong newspaper that had repeated contact with the American during his several-week stay in the city, reported that Snowden left on a Moscow-bound flight and would continue to a third country.
Hong Kong officials said in a statement that U.S. authorities had asked Hong Kong to issue a provisional arrest warrant for Snowden but that the documents provided by the U.S. did not “fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law.”
Without “sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr. Snowden from leaving Hong Kong,” the government said.
On Friday. U.S. authorities revealed that Snowden had been charged with theft of government property and two violations of the Espionage Act: unauthorized communication of national defense information and providing U.S. classified intelligence to an unauthorized person.
Hong Kong authorities said they had informed the U.S. Government of Snowden's departure and said they would continue to seek details from Washington about Snowden’s revelations that U.S. hacking activities had targeted facilities in Hong Kong.
