Actor who played Edward Snowden makes video appeal to help Hong Kong asylum seekers

Joseph Gorden-Levitt says families ‘put themselves at risk’ in sheltering former US intelligence contractor and have ‘really difficult’ life in city

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Joseph Gordon-Levitt appealing for donations for Hong Kong asylum seekers who helped Edward Snowden. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Published: 4:49pm, 27 Oct 2016Updated: 10:04pm, 27 Oct 2016

The actor who played Edward Snowden in Oliver Stone’s film about the US intelligence whistle-blower launched a video Thursday describing the plight of the Hong Kong asylum seekers who sheltered the former NSA contractor in the city in 2013 and calling for donations to help them.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt said in the video released at around 2am local time that Snowden “hid in a sort of unlikely place” while in Hong Kong.

Watch: Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s appeal for donations

“He hid with a handful of refugees” from Sri Lanka and the Philippines, the actor said in the two-and-a-half minute video. “These four people and their families really put themselves at risk in order to help Snowden when he really needed help.”

Gordon-Levitt, who played the title role in Oliver Stone’s Snowden, said that while the former US intelligence contractor was able to get out of Hong Kong “these four folks and their families are still there and they’re actually living in a really tough situation”.

Last month it emerged that a Filipino family as well as a family and a man from Sri Lanka helped Snowden when he was in the city in 2013. Snowden had just fled his native United States and revealed classified documents showing mass online surveillance conducted by the US and other governments. He was granted asylum in Russia, where he still lives.