Spy secret leaker disappears out of sight

The former CIA agent who revealed himself as the source of top-secret leaks about US surveillance programmes has dropped out of public sight.

Two days after he checked out of a Hong Kong hotel where he said that he had “no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong,” Edward Snowden was nowhere to be found, despite being the central figure in the one of the biggest news stories in the world.

In an interview with the Guardian he had said he wanted to avoid the media spotlight, noting he did not want “the story to be about me. I want it to be about what the US government is doing.”

With little new information to report on Mr Snowden or his whereabouts, Hong Kong’s notoriously boisterous newspapers, and others around the world, fixated on his American girlfriend, a dancer who posted partially nude photographs on herself online before she also apparently disappeared.

“Spy on the run: girlfriend ill at ease,” read one headline above a picture of the 28-year-old Lindsay Mills in a provocative pose taken from her blog, which has since gone offline.

Ms Mills is not believed to be travelling with Mr Snowden, who is thought to still be in Hong Kong.

Mr Snowden arrived in Hong Kong from his home in Hawaii on May 20, just after taking leave from his National Security Agency contracting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, which has since fired him.

Questions remain about why he chose to go public in Hong Kong, a Chinese autonomous region that maintains a Western-style legal system and freedom of speech, although he said he considered the territory to be relatively free and open. Hong Kong has an extradition agreement with the United States, but there are exceptions in cases of political persecution or where there are concerns over cruel or humiliating treatment.

US authorities have yet to bring charges against the 29-year-old or file an extradition request with Hong Kong. Legal experts say quirks in the Hong Kong legal system could allow him to draw that process out for months or years through appeals.

Mr Snowden might also block extradition altogether by claiming he would be subject to the same harsh treatment as WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning, who was held alone for nine months in a windowless cell 23 hours a day, sometimes with no clothing, drawing complaints from human rights groups and the United Nations’ chief torture investigator.

Mr Snowden could still attempt to leave Hong Kong for another destination, possibly including nearby jurisdictions or countries that do not have extradition treaties with the United States, such as China.