The U.S. President Barack Obama will not say whether he would pardon former government contractor Edward Snowden for leaking classified information about National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance programs, The Hill reported.

“I can’t pardon somebody who hasn’t gone before a court and presented themselves,” Mr Obama told the German magazine Der Spiegel, “so that’s not something that I would comment on at this point.”

Obama said that Snowden “raised some legitimate concerns” with the way he revealed the controversial NSA programs.

 “If everybody took the approach that I make my own decisions about these issues, then it would be very hard to have an organized government or any kind of national security system”, he said.

The president suggested that would be a strike against Snowden if he formally requests relief from the Justice Department’s Office of Pardon Attorney.