Edward Snowden, NSA leaker, says he’ll fight extradition to the U.S.

Edward Snowden, the man who leaked the information on the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs, is still holed up in Hong Kong and he plans to fight extradition to the U.S. in court.

Snowden, whose identity was revealed over the weekend, spoke with South china Morning Post in his first interview since the Guardian made him a household name.

“I have had many opportunities to flee Hong Kong, but I would rather stay and fight the United States government in the courts, because I have faith in Hong Kong’s rule of law,” Snowden said, reports The Los Angeles Times. “My intention is to ask the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate. I have been given no reason to doubt your system.”

Snowden’s exact location is still unknown. However, Hong Kong media reports that immigration authorities show no sign that he left. It has been speculated that he is now at a private home.

“People who think I made a mistake in picking Hong Kong as a location misunderstand my intentions. I am not here to hide from justice; I am here to reveal criminality,” he said elsewhere in the interview, notes CBS News.

He also claims that there already were extradition attempts, but the government would not typically do that until formal charges were issued - something that’s yet to happen.

“I heard today from a reliable source that the United States government is trying to bully the Hong Kong government into extraditing me before the local government can learn of this [the U.S. National Security Agency hacking people in Hong Kong],” he was quoted as saying. “The U.S. government will do anything to prevent me from getting this into the public eye, which is why they are pushing so hard for extradition.”

Meanwhile, Snowden could actually play a role in the relationship between China and the U.S. The Chinese communist party and Hong Kong’s government haven’t made any statements yet.

CNN also reported that information on Snowden’s girlfriend, Lindsay Mills, has come out. “For those of you that know me without my super hero cape, you can probably understand why I'll be refraining from blog posts for awhile,” she wrote in a blog post Monday. “My world has opened and closed all at once. Leaving me lost at sea without a compass.”