Dear friends, On Sunday (18 August 2013), David Michael Miranda, the partner of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, was detained by authorities at London's Heathrow Airport while transiting en route from Berlin to Rio.
For those who haven't heard of him, Glenn Greenwald is the Guardian's columnist on civil liberties & national security and was the journalist who published Ed Snowden's treasure trove of documentation on the NSA and GCHQ's illegal surveillance & wire-tapping programmes. No evidence was presented to support the detention of Mr. Miranda and he was held for the full nine hours permitted under Section 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, during which time he was questioned about the entirely lawful activities of his partner and other Guardian journalists in revealing unlawful activities by the UK and US governments. Electronic devices, including his laptop computer and cell phone, were confiscated by authorities - again, without explanation. After nine hours had expired, Miranda was released without any word of apology or explanation for his detention. Widney Brown, Amnesty International's senior director of international law and policy, has stated that 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." The Brazilian government has expressed "grave concerns" over the use of anti-terror legislation to detain one of its citizens. As a democracy, the United Kingdom must remain a safe place for journalists, intellectuals and others who seek to promote accountability and transparency in public life. The abuse of anti-terror legislation to question or intimidate journalists or their families and friends is a terrifying prospect and violates one of the basic tenets of democracy: freedom of the press. By holding a transit passenger for 9 hours without a shred of evidence against him, the British government has demonstrated its disdain for accountability and dissenting opinion and sets a dangerous precedent for the mistreatment of people engaging in entirely lawful activities. Please* sign and widely share this petition*<http://www.change.org/petitions/home-secretary-theresa-may-publicly-apologise-for-the-unlawful-detention-of-david-miranda#> calling on the Rt Hon Theresa May, MP, Britain's Home Secretary, to: 1. Publicly apologise for the treatment of David Miranda 2. Suspend the security officials involved in this incident, pending further investigation 3. Formally launch an inquiry to identify how Miranda's detention came to be sanctioned and to identify further areas in which the Terrorism Act (2000) is open to such abuse and recommend institutional or legal remedies to avoid such cases. Thanks. Satbir http://www.change.org/petitions/home-secretary-theresa-may-publicly-apologise-for-the-unlawful-detention-of-david-miranda# -- Satbir Lochan Singh satbir.in <http://www.satbir.in> | satbir.l.si...@gmail.com | UK: +44 (0) 2089048991 | India: +91 (0) 8527232802 | @SATBIRLSINGH<http://WWW.TWITTER.COM/SATBIRLSINGH>
