Norway to reject Snowden's application for asylum

OSLO - The Norwegian government confirmed on Tuesday that it has received an asylum application by American whistleblower Edward Snowden and will reject it according to Norwegian law.

Frode Andersen, a Norwegian Foreign Ministry official, in an interview with the Norwegian news agency NTB, said that the Norwegian embassy in Moscow, Russia, received a fax message on Monday afternoon, which is "supposedly signed by him (Snowden)."

The Foreign Ministry, which according to Andersen has no ability to make an investigation into the case, has forwarded the application to the Justice Ministry for consideration.

Norwegian State Secretary Paal Loenseth said that Snowden's application will be rejected in line with Norwegian law.

"According to Norwegian law, one can not seek asylum abroad and the normal procedures stipulate that the asylum application from Edward Snowden will be rejected," said Loenseth.

Snowden has been staying in the transfer area of the Moscow airport after his arrival on June 23 from Hong Kong, where he made public the widespread US government attempts of hacking internet systems of other countries.