Obama says Snowden's no patriot, calls on him to defend actions

The US president Barack Obama has reportedly said that NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is not a 'patriot' while defending the government's alleged surveillance programme at a press conference on Friday.

According to Stuff.co.nz, Obama said that Snowden's activities cannot be considered that of a patriotic nature which soured its ties with asylum provider Russia adding that the US 'fugitive' should return to the US and defend his actions if he feels them to be right and legal.

Snowden faces espionage charges for having leaking classified information about the US' secret surveillance programme which collected citizens' web and telephone data without their knowledge and labeled them as in favour of national security.

Obama further said that the world needs to be convinced that the US espionage does not step on their rights to privacy and security, the report added.

The president has called on for appropriate reforms in the legislation governing the surveillance activities and said that 'more transparency' is required to convince citizens about the legality and necessity of government's actions.