Former US spy agency contractor, Edward Snowden, has been declared one of the winners of a Swedish human rights award-also known as the "alternative Nobel"- for exposing top secret state surveillance programs.
According to Politico, Snowden shared the 2014 Right Livelihood Honorary Award with Alan Rusbridger, editor of British newspaper The Guardian, which has published a series of articles on government surveillance based on documents leaked by Snowden.
The cash prize of 1.5 million kronor (210,000 dollars) is to be shared among Pakistani human rights activist Asma Jahangir, Basil Fernando of the Asian Human Rights Commission and U.S. environmentalist Bill McKibben.
The annual Right Livelihood Award, which was created by Jacob von Uexkull in 1980 honours the efforts of those who, according to the prize founder, are sidelined by the Nobel Prizes.
