The partner of the Guardian journalist who has written a series of stories revealing mass surveillance programmes by the US National Security Agency was held for almost nine hours on Sunday by UK authorities as he passed through London's Heathrow airport on his way home to Rio de Janeiro.
David Miranda, who lives with Glenn Greenwald, was returning from a trip to Berlin when he was stopped by officers at 8.05am and informed that he was to be questioned under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000. The controversial law, which applies only at airports, ports and border areas, allows officers to stop, search, question and detain individuals.
The 28-year-old was held for nine hours, the maximum the law allows before officers must release or formally arrest the individual. According to official figures, most examinations under schedule 7 – over 97% – last less than an hour, and only one in 2,000 people detained are kept for more than six hours.
Miranda was released, but officials confiscated electronics equipment including his mobile phone, laptop, camera, memory sticks, DVDs and games consoles.
Since 5 June, Greenwald has written a series of stories revealing the NSA's electronic surveillance programmes, detailed in thousands of files passed to him by whistleblower Edward Snowden. The Guardian has also published a number of stories about blanket electronic surveillance by Britain's GCHQ, also based on documents from Snowden.
While in Berlin, Miranda had visited Laura Poitras, the US film-maker who has also been working on the Snowden files with Greenwald and the Guardian. The Guardian paid for Miranda's flights.
"This is a profound attack on press freedoms and the news gathering process," Greenwald said. "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."
A spokesperson for the Guardian said: "We were dismayed that the partner of a Guardian journalist who has been writing about the security services was detained for nearly nine hours while passing through Heathrow airport. We are urgently seeking clarification from the British authorities."
A spokesperson for Scotland Yard said: "At 08:05 on Sunday, 18 August a 28-year-old man was detained at Heathrow airport under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000. He was not arrested. He was subsequently released at 17:00."
Scotland Yard refused to be drawn on why Miranda was stopped using powers that enable police officers to stop and question travellers at UK ports and airports.
There was no comment from the Home Office in relation to the detention. However, there was surprise in political circles and elsewhere. Labour MP Tom Watson said he was shocked at the news and called for it to be made clear if any ministers were involved in authorising the detention.
He said: "It's almost impossible, even without full knowledge of the case, to conclude that Glenn Greenwald's partner was a terrorist suspect.
"I think that we need to know if any ministers knew about this decision, and exactly who authorised it."
"The clause in this act is not meant to be used as a catch-all that can be used in this way."
Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act has been widely criticised for giving police broad powers under the guise of anti-terror legislation to stop and search individuals without prior authorisation or reasonable suspicion – setting it apart from other police powers.
Those stopped have no automatic right to legal advice and it is a criminal offence to refuse to co-operate with questioning under schedule 7, which critics say is a curtailment of the right to silence.
Last month the UK government said it would reduce the maximum period of detention to six hours and promised a review of the operation on schedule 7 amid concerns it unfairly targets minority groups and gives individuals fewer legal protections than they would have if detained at a police station.
The government of Brazil issued a statement in which it expressed its "grave concern" over the detention of one of its citizens and the use of anti-terror legislation. It said: "This measure is without justification since it involves an individual against whom there are no charges that can legitimate the use of that legislation. The Brazilian government expects that incidents such as the one that happened to the Brazilian citizen today are not repeated."
Widney Brown, Amnesty International's senior director of international law and policy, said: "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."
据英国《卫报》8月19日报道，披露美国国家安全局大规模监控项目的英国《卫报》记者格林沃尔德的伴侣8月18日途径伦敦希思罗机场遭英国当局拘留。
格伦•格林沃尔德28岁的同居男友戴维•米兰达正从德国柏林返回巴西里约热内卢的家，但途径英国时被英国警方以2000年反恐法拘留。该法颇具争议，允许警方截留、调查和盘问有关人员，但只适用于机场、港口和边境地区。
米兰达从上午8点05分被扣到释放长达9小时，已达该法规定的最长拘留时间，在此期限内警方必须释放或正式逮捕被拘留者。官方数据显示，在第七条之下的审查有超过97%不到1小时，2000人中只有1人被扣6小时以上。
米兰达虽然最终被释放，但警方没收了他的电子设备，包括手机、笔记本电脑、相机、记忆棒、DVD和游戏机。
自6月5日来，格林沃尔德根据爱德华·斯诺登给他的大量文件撰写了一系列揭露NSA电子监控计划的文章。此外，《卫报》发表的关于英国政府通信总部（GCHQ）秘密电子监控的报道也基于斯诺登的文件。
米兰达在柏林期间拜访了美国电影摄制人劳拉•普瓦特拉，普瓦特拉和格林沃尔德与《卫报》一直致力报道斯诺登的爆料。米兰达的机票费用由《卫报》支付。
“这是对新闻自由和新闻搜集的严重打击。”格林沃尔德说，“拘留我的伴侣达9小时，且 不允许他请律师，然后扣押他的大部分财产，这明显是有意威胁那些揭露美国国家安全局和英国通讯总部的人。英国的行为对全世界记者造成了严重威胁。他们最终 想威胁和制止我们继续从事记者的工作。但恰恰相反，这只会更加鼓励我们继续大胆地报道。”
《卫报》发言人表示：“披露秘密监控项目的《卫报》记者的伴侣在途径希罗思机场时被扣近9小时，我们对此感到失望。我们迫切要求英国当局予以澄清。”
伦教警察厅发言人称：“8月18日上午8点5分，一名28岁男子在希罗思机场以反恐法第7条被拘留，并于下午5点释放。”但伦敦警察厅拒绝透露扣留原因。
英国内政部也未对此置评。然而，政界和其他地方均感诧异。英国工党议员汤姆•沃森表示 他对该新闻感到震惊，并呼吁澄清有哪些大臣牵涉其中。“即便对该案件没有充分了解，也几乎不可能认定格伦•格林沃尔德的伴侣是恐怖嫌疑人。我们需要知晓， 是否哪些大臣对此决定知情，以及究竟谁批准此事。”
反恐法遭致广泛的批评，因为它允许警察在没有事先授权和合理质疑的情况下截停和搜查某个人，被拘留者没有寻求法律建议的权利，而且不得拒绝配合回答问题，否则构成刑事犯罪。批评人士称这剥夺了保持沉默的权利。
巴西政府发声明就拘留其公民表示“严重关切”。声明说：“此举没有正当理由，被拘留者没有任何罪名可以启用反恐法。巴西政府希望今天发生在巴西公民身上的事情不要再发生。”
大赦国际法律和政策高级主管温迪•布朗说：“一个途径伦敦的巴西籍公民戴维•迈克尔•米兰达被随意拘留，考虑到他的伴侣曾在揭露美国国家安全局非法监控中扮演的角色，这极其荒谬。”
“戴维被拘是非法和不可原谅的，违反了任何公平原则，他被拘留表明该法律如何被报复性滥用。没有根据让人相信米兰达对英国政府产生了任何威胁。唯一可能的目的是骚扰他和他的伴侣格伦•格林沃尔德，因为他在分析斯诺登的文件中发挥了作用。”他说。