British police detain David Miranda in blatant attempt to intimidate journalist Glenn Greenwald.
A leading press freedom watchdog has written to British Prime Minister David Cameron about the arrest of a journalistâ„¢s partner allegedly linked with US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, saying the UK has abused anti-terror law to detain him.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) demanded Cameron to launch a “thorough and transparent investigation” into the “deeply troubling” detention and harassment of David Miranda, partner and assistant to Guardian journalist Glen Greenwald, at Heathrow international airport.
“The latest example in a disturbing record of official harassment of the Guardian over its coverage of the Snowden leaks”, said the letter which was signed by the CPJ’s executive director Joel Simon.
The CPJâ„¢s letter also accused British police officers of abusing anti-terror law to access to journalistic material while they did not suspect him for terrorism.
Miranda was detained on Sunday, August 18 and informed that he was to be questioned under Schedule 7 of Britainâ„¢s Terrorism Act 2000.
“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 [US National Security Agency] and [Britain’s eavesdropping agency] GCHQ,” Glen Greenwald said.
Earlier this week, British Prime Minister David Cameron pushed The Guardian to destroy the classified documents it received from former NSA contractor.
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Republished from: Press TV