Oliver Stone Praises Ed Snowden as a Hero

Calls it a "disgrace" that Obama administration is chasing Snowden rather than fixing laws

Oliver Stone, never one to run scared from a controversy, yesterday waded into the ongoing NSA debate, defending the American whistlebower Edward Snowden and hailing him as a "hero" for exposing the US's mass surveillance programme.

"It's a disgrace that Obama is more concerned with hunting down Snowden than reforming these George Bush-style eavesdropping techniques," the Oscar-winning director told audiences at the Karlovy Vary international film festival in the Czech Republic.

Snowden, 30, is living in a transit zone in a Moscow airport where he is seeking asylum from federal prosecution in the US. He is believed to have applied for asylum in 20 countries—thus far without result. In the meantime, his revelations have sparked a diplomatic crisis. In the past few days both the German and French leaders have described the NSA's surveillance program as "unacceptable".