Detention of Greenwald's husband 'extraordinary', says UK Chairman of Home Affairs Select Committee [View all]
Detention of Guardian journalist's partner 'extraordinary', says Keith Vaz
Senior MP to seek explanation from police after detention of Glenn Greenwald's partner, David Miranda, at Heathrow airport
Alexandra Topping and Guardian staff
theguardian.com, Monday 19 August 2013 08.46 BST
...
(The chairman of the home affairs select committee) Keith Vaz called the detention of Miranda "extraordinary" and said he would be writing immediately to police to request information about why Miranda was held under anti-terrorism laws when there appeared to be little evidence that he was involved in terrorism.
...
Vaz said he was not aware that personal property could be confiscated under the laws. "What is extraordinary is they knew he was the partner (of Greenwald) and therefore it is clear not only people who are directly involved are being sought but also the partners of those involved," he said. "Bearing in mind it is a new use of terrorism legislation to detain someone in these circumstances (...) I'm certainly interested in knowing, so I will write to the police to ask for the justification of the use of terrorism legislation – they may have a perfectly reasonable explanation. But if we are going to use the act in this way ... then at least we need to know so everyone is prepared."
...
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."
...
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."
...
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/aug/19/detention-david-miranda-keith-vaz-glenn-greenwald?CMP=twt_fd
= new reply since forum marked as read