from Hacker News

How long can Edward Snowden stay in the Moscow airport?

by markhacker on 6/30/13, 12:49 PM with 7 comments

  • by crb on 6/30/13, 1:28 PM

    My answer to the Stack Exchange question. (Never 100% sure what discussion to add in a post which points to another discussion site...)

    There's a good article to answer your question on the Washington Post website [1]:

    All those jokes comparing Snowden’s case to the Tom Hanks film “The Terminal”? They have a distinctly unromantic basis in the life of Iranian Mehran Karimi Nasseri [2], who lived in Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport for 18 years after Iran expelled him.

    [1]: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/06/26...

    [2]: http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0621/p11s02-almo.html

  • by wslh on 6/30/13, 1:03 PM

    This question makes me think we need a privacy.stackexchange.com and a revolutions.stackexchange.com

  • by sktrdie on 6/30/13, 2:09 PM

    With all the news reporters in that specific transit zone, and after so many days, I find it hard to believe that nobody wasn't even able to see him. My best guess is that he acquired a fake passport/ID and is free somewhere in Russia or elsewhere.

    I doubt he can hide that well in such a small airport transit zone, especially from news reporters that are well trained at spotting celebrities in large outdoor spaces - never mind airport transit zones.

  • by arbuge on 6/30/13, 1:34 PM

    He's probably in this hotel an AP reporter experienced:

    http://www.adn.com/2013/06/28/2956661/trapped-in-transit-orw...

    If so, he could stay there a long time assuming he has sufficiently wealthy backers. $300 a night + food etc. isn't exactly cheap...

  • by reeses on 6/30/13, 9:54 PM

    At least the hotel in the Dubai airport has awesome massage chairs in the rooms and lets you come and go as you please (unless you're traveling on an Israeli passport, in which case, fly the other way). On the other hand, there are no outdoor facing windows in the rooms and you get the same amused "of course not" when you ask for one.