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".