Kevin_Kennedy
Defend Liberty
- Aug 27, 2008
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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 8.30am 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 under an hour, and only one in 2,000 people detained are kept for more than six hours.
Glenn Greenwald's partner detained at Heathrow airport for nine hours | World news | The Guardian
The regime is starting to get worried if it has to stoop to kidnapping loved ones of journalists for the stories they write.