《衛報》記者刊發斯諾登爆料 同性伴侶倫敦機場被拘9小時

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."據英國《衛報》8月19日報道，披露美國國家安全局大規模監控項目的英國《衛報》記者格林沃爾德的伴侶8月18日途徑倫敦希思羅機場遭英國當局拘留。

格倫•格林沃爾德28歲的同居男友戴維•米蘭達正從德國柏林返回巴西里約熱內盧的家，但途徑英國時被英國警方以2000年反恐法拘留。該法頗具爭議，允許警方截留、調查和盤問有關人員，但只適用於機場、港口和邊境地區。

米蘭達從上午8點05分被扣到釋放長達9小時，已達該法規定的最長拘留時間，在此期限內警方必須釋放或正式逮捕被拘留者。官方數據顯示，在第七條之下的審查有超過97%不到1小時，2000人中只有1人被扣6小時以上。

米蘭達雖然最終被釋放，但警方沒收了他的電子設備，包括手機、筆記本電腦、相機、記憶棒、DVD和遊戲機。

自6月5日來，格林沃爾德根據愛德華·斯諾登給他的大量文件撰寫了一系列揭露NSA電子監控計劃的文章。此外，《衛報》發表的關於英國政府通信總部（GCHQ）祕密電子監控的報道也基於斯諾登的文件。

米蘭達在柏林期間拜訪了美國電影攝製人勞拉•普瓦特拉，普瓦特拉和格林沃爾德與《衛報》一直致力報道斯諾登的爆料。米蘭達的機票費用由《衛報》支付。

“這是對新聞自由和新聞蒐集的嚴重打擊。”格林沃爾德說，“拘留我的伴侶達9小時，且不允許他請律師，然後扣押他的大部分財產，這明顯是有意威脅那些揭露美國國家安全局和英國通訊總部的人。英國的行爲對全世界記者造成了嚴重威脅。他們最終想威脅和制止我們繼續從事記者的工作。但恰恰相反，這隻會更加鼓勵我們繼續大膽地報道。”

《衛報》發言人表示：“披露祕密監控項目的《衛報》記者的伴侶在途徑希羅思機場時被扣近9小時，我們對此感到失望。我們迫切要求英國當局予以澄清。”

倫教警察廳發言人稱：“8月18日上午8點5分，一名28歲男子在希羅思機場以反恐法第7條被拘留，並於下午5點釋放。”但倫敦警察廳拒絕透露扣留原因。

英國內政部也未對此置評。然而，政界和其他地方均感詫異。英國工黨議員湯姆•沃森表示他對該新聞感到震驚，並呼籲澄清有哪些大臣牽涉其中。“即便對該案件沒有充分了解，也幾乎不可能認定格倫•格林沃爾德的伴侶是恐怖嫌疑人。我們需要知曉，是否哪些大臣對此決定知情，以及究竟誰批准此事。”

反恐法遭致廣泛的批評，因爲它允許警察在沒有事先授權和合理質疑的情況下截停和搜查某個人，被拘留者沒有尋求法律建議的權利，而且不得拒絕配合回答問題，否則構成刑事犯罪。批評人士稱這剝奪了保持沉默的權利。

巴西政府發聲明就拘留其公民表示“嚴重關切”。聲明說：“此舉沒有正當理由，被拘留者沒有任何罪名可以啓用反恐法。巴西政府希望今天發生在巴西公民身上的事情不要再發生。”

大赦國際法律和政策高級主管溫迪•布朗說：“一個途徑倫敦的巴西籍公民戴維•邁克爾•米蘭達被隨意拘留，考慮到他的伴侶曾在揭露美國國家安全局非法監控中扮演的角色，這極其荒謬。”

“戴維被拘是非法和不可原諒的，違反了任何公平原則，他被拘留表明該法律如何被報復性濫用。沒有根據讓人相信米蘭達對英國政府產生了任何威脅。唯一可能的目的是騷擾他和他的伴侶格倫•格林沃爾德，因爲他在分析斯諾登的文件中發揮了作用。”他說。