NSA leaker Edward Snowden faces a legal labyrinth as he struggles to find a country willing to take him in, according to NBC News. There is no uniform application process among the 21 countries WikiLeaks has said he’s sought asylum from, and several countries have already said he does not meet their requirements because he is not on their soil or on their border. Snowden could win refugee status for successfully arguing that he would face persecution at home because of his political opinions, according to the 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees. But countries may reject refugee status if he’s “committed a crime against peace, a war crime, a crime against humanity, or a serious non-political crime outside of [his] country of origin.” Snowden has been holed up in the transit zone of a Moscow airport since American officials revoked his passport and called for him to face espionage charges in the U.S.
