British Security Authorities Detain Glenn Greenwald’s Partner for 9 Hours at Heathrow Airport


Earlier today British security officials at Heathrow Airport detained Glenn Greenwald’s partner, a Brazilian citizen, under the authority of schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act of 2000. David Miranda was transiting through Heathrow on his way home after a trip to Berlin, where he had visited Laura Poitras, Greenwald’s partner in exposing the NSA’s surveillance programs. British authorities ended up holding Miranda for nine hours, the maximum allowed, and then confiscated his cell phone, laptop, camera, memory sticks, DVDs, and game console before finally releasing him.

This is more than just shocking. It’s stupid. Criminally, insanely stupid. I can hardly think of a better way of convincing skeptics that security authorities can’t be trusted with the power we’ve given them.

British citizens want to know if any government ministers were involved in this. As an American citizen, I’d like to know if any American officials were involved in this.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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