Heathrow Airport, London. Photograph by Clive Darra
Police detained the partner of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald at Heathrow and questioned him without charge for nine hours under provisions in Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
David Miranda was flying through Heathrow on the way back from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro in his home country of Brazil, when he was detained and had his mobile phone, laptop, camera, memory sticks, DVDs and games consoles confiscated. He had no access to a lawyer during this time, and after the maximum nine hours of detention allowed under the legislation he was released without any information on why he was stopped.
Miranda was in Berlin working with the Guardian and visiting Laura Poitras, the US film-maker who has been working with Greenwald and the Guardian on the Snowden files.
The authorities have not shared any information on why Miranda was targeted, with a number of people commentating that it was to intimidate Greenwald, a slow the leaks of information about “dragnet” spying practices by the NSA and the UK’s GCHQ. In a statement, the Met Police said that Miranda was detained to determine if he was “a person concerned in the commission, preparation or execution of acts of terrorism”.
A British Metropolitan Police Service spokesman said a 28-year-old male had been detained at Heathrow airport under provisions of the 2000 Terrorism Act. That law gives British border officials the right to question someone “to determine if that individual is a person concerned in the commission, preparation or execution of acts of terrorism.”
Speaking to the Guardian, Greenwald said:
“This is a profound attack on press freedoms and the news gathering process. To detain my partner for a full nine hours while denying him a lawyer, and then seize large amounts of his possessions, is clearly intended to send a message of intimidation to those of us who have been reporting on the NSA and GCHQ. The actions of the UK pose a serious threat to journalists everywhere.
But the last thing it will do is intimidate or deter us in any way from doing our job as journalists. Quite the contrary: it will only embolden us more to continue to report aggressively.”
Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 gives security officers broad powers to stop, search, and detain people at the UK’s borders, ports, and airports, but was only designed to be used to protect the UK from terror attack.
Keith Vaz, Chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee called the detention of Miranda “extraordinary” when interviewed this morning for the BBC’s Today Programme, saying:
“It is an extraordinary twist to a very complicated story…I am concerned at the use of terrorism legislation for something that does not appear to relate to terrorism.” Vaz said he was not aware that personal property could be confiscated under the laws.”
The Brazilian government has also complained about the mistreatment of Miranda as one of their citizens, saying:
“This measure has no justification since it involves an individual against whom there are no charges that can warrant the use of this legislation”
Amnesty International’s Senior Director of International Law and Policy at Amnesty International Widney Brown said on the incident:
“It is utterly improbable that David Michael Miranda, a Brazilian national transiting through London, was detained at random, given the role his partner has played in revealing the truth about the unlawful nature of NSA surveillance.
David’s detention was unlawful and inexcusable. He was detained under a law that violates any principle of fairness and his detention shows how the law can be abused for petty vindictive reasons.
There is simply no basis for believing that David Michael Miranda presents any threat whatsoever to the UK government. The only possible intent behind this detention was to harass him and his partner, Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, for his role in analysing the data released by Edward Snowden.
States cannot pass anti-terror acts and claim they are necessary to protect people from harm and then use them to retaliate against someone exercising his rights. By targeting Miranda and Greenwald, the UK authorities are also sending a message to other journalists that if they maintain their independence and report critically about governments, they too may be targeted.”
Glenn Greenwald has been at the centre of the NSA spying scandal, after he broke the story in the Guardian. He is the only journalist with direct access to Edward Snowden, who was recently given temporary asylum in Russia despite warnings and extradition requests from the US.
