50 percent Hong Kongers oppose NSA whistleblower's extradition: Poll

50 percent of Hong Kongers strongly oppose surrendering NSA whistleblower Snowden to the US government, a recent survey has revealed.

According to the survey, only 17.6 percent respondents favoured his turn over to the US if Washington demands his extradition.

A young privacy activist, Freddy Chu, said that nobody welcomes a fugitive but now that Snowden is in the country his rights need to be safeguarded.

Snowden had revealed the secret intelligence about the US government snooping on the web activities and telephone records of its citizens, including tracking the Chinese servers as a result to the alleged attack on Pentagon systems by Chinese hackers.

Activists support Snowden and believe that he is upholding the core values of freedom of expression and privacy.

Snowden's presence in Hong Kong draws special international attention as Hong Kong has a status of 'special administrative region' in China where the laws differ from the mainland.