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May 13, 2014

Photos of Edward Snowden, a contractor at the US National Security Agency (NSA), and US President Barack Obama are printed on the front pages of newspapers in Hong Kong in this file illustration photo taken on June 11, 2013. Reuters pic, May 13, 2014.Edward Snowden was "profoundly at peace" with his decision to leak national security documents, and even joked about the consequences, journalist Glenn Greenwald says in a new book.

"I call the bottom bunk at Gitmo," Snowden joked, referring to the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, says the book to be released today, excerpts of which were published yesterday in The Guardian.

Greenwald, recounting the series of discussions last year in Hong Kong when the former National Security Agency contractor decided to reveal his identity, said Snowden appeared to sleep soundly and was "completely refreshed the next day" despite the tension.

"Snowden had seemed unbothered" by the prospect of facing US prosecution for releasing the classified materials on NSA surveillance programmes, Greenwald wrote, adding that "a giddy gallows humour crept into our dealings".

"When we asked him about his ability to sleep so well under the circumstances, Snowden said that he felt profoundly at peace with what he had done and so the nights were easy," said Greenwald, who met with Snowden in Hong Kong with Laura Poitras and Ewen MacAskill.

"'I figure I have very few days left with a comfortable pillow,'" he joked, 'so I might as well enjoy them.'"

Greenwald also described manoeuvres that allowed Snowden to avoid a throng of journalists in Hong Kong looking for him after the video in which he revealed his identity was released on The Guardian website.

He wrote that two human rights lawyers arrived at the hotel where Snowden and three journalists were staying to assist Snowden, but that Greenwald had to find a way to get him away without confronting the horde of media.

Snowden said he had a way to make himself "unrecognisable" but they needed a way to get him away without being followed, Greenwald wrote.

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