Sarah Harrison’s fearless, committed approach was key to Ed Snowden now living freely in Russia.
“She really put herself on the line,” says Laura Poitras, who filmed Snowden in his hotel room until the day after he revealed his identity publicly, at which point she had to back off in order not to jeopardize him. “I was being tailed,” she says. “The risks became very great.” Harrison had the right mix of steeliness and conviction to get him out of Hong Kong. “She’s extremely intelligent,” Poitras says, “and tenacious. And very motivated by her principles.”…
… Snowden himself is aware that it was, in part, Harrison’s commitment to his cause that got him out of peril. In an email sent from Russia, he tells me that his lawyers initially informed him that it was dangerous for anybody at all to help him, that “anyone within a three-mile radius is going to get hammered.” But still, Harrison stepped forward. She could have left Moscow at any time but chose instead to stay—not for days or even weeks but for months. This, according to Snowden, is in keeping with her character. “In the face of very real risks, Sarah refuses to allow intimidation to shape her decisions,” he writes. “If you forced her to choose between disowning her principles or being burned at the stake, I think she’d hand you a match.”
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