Family who sheltered Snowden in Hong Kong granted protection in Canada

The couple took Snowden in at the behest of a Canadian human rights lawyer, soon after he leaked documents detailing top-secret US surveillance programs

The family will travel to Montreal, where the group has arranged housing (AFP via Getty Images)

A Sri Lankan couple who briefly sheltered ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden in Hong Kong eight years ago arrived with their two children Tuesday in Canada, where authorities granted them protection.

Supun Thilina Kellapatha and Nadeeka Dilrukshi Nonis had been living in limbo in Hong Kong after authorities there rejected their asylum claims in 2017.

The couple took Snowden in at the behest of a Canadian human rights lawyer, soon after he leaked documents detailing top-secret US surveillance programs. Local media identified Kellapatha, Nonis and several others, putting their lives at risk, advocates said.

But on Tuesday, the two refugees and their children - Sethumdi, 9, and Dinath, 5 - landed in Toronto, according to For the Refugees, a nonprofit group that privately sponsored their application for refugee status.

The family will travel to Montreal, where the group has arranged housing. There, they will be reunited with Vanessa Rodel, another “Snowden refugee,” and her daughter, Keana. The two arrived in Canada as refugees in 2019. Kellapatha is Keana’s father.

“After over a decade in limbo, they can now begin to build new lives in Canada, reunited with the rest of their family and free of the constant fear and worry that marked their existence as high-profile asylum seekers in Hong Kong,” For the Refugees president, Marc-André Séguin, said in a statement.

Ethan Cox, a spokesman for the organisation, said that the separation of the two families has been a “great strain”.

Now, “they’re really thrilled to be able to say goodbye to Hong Kong,” Cox said. He added: “The situation in Hong Kong is not good... it’s a very, very unsafe place, especially for high-profile asylum seekers.”

When Snowden first arrived in Hong Kong, he stayed at a ritzy hotel - but soon went underground after outing himself as the whistleblower who leaked details about the National Security Agency’s Prism surveillance program.

Tibbo, who was helping Snowden, asked a group of aslyum-seeker clients living in Hong Kong’s cramped tenements if they would shelter an American contractor. The group, which included Kellapatha, Nonis and Rodel, agreed.

Snowden, who now faces multiple criminal charges in the United States, stayed with them for two weeks before fleeing to Russia where he now lives.

Another “Snowden refugee” from Sri Lanka, Ajith Pushpakumara, remains in Hong Kong, Cox said, and For the Refugees is urging the Canadian government to expedite his application.

“We hope that the Canadian government will expedite the processing of his application and then allow him to join the others in Canada without delay,” he said.