British authorities have said the domestic partner of star reporter Glenn Greenwald was involved in “terrorism” when he was detained at a London airport carrying documents from former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, reports Reuters. David Miranda, Greenwald’s partner, filed suit against the British government after he was detained and questioned for nine hours at Heathrow during a stopover in his travels from Berlin back to his home in Rio de Janeiro.
As part of the lawsuit, which Miranda filed to tr to recover documents seized during his detention, a document was read into the record that claimed Miranda “is likely to be involved in espionage activity which has the potential to act against the interests of UK national security.” The document, which was sent to British border officers before Miranda arrived in the country, claimed that he was “knowingly carrying material the release of which would endanger people’s lives” adding that any disclosure of this material is “designed to influence a government and is made for the purpose of promoting a political or ideological cause. This therefore falls within the definition of terrorism.”
The former Guardian journalist Greenwald said that the document served as proof that British authorities are “equating terrorism with journalism.” Greenwald later wrote on Twitter that the document quoted by Reuters was the best proof he had ever seen on how terrorism “is an empty term manipulated by US/UK Govts.”
