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David
Miranda (L), the partner of US journalist Glenn Greenwald (R), pictured
at Rio
airport on August 19, 2013 (O GLOBO/AFP/File)
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London —
The partner of Glenn Greenwald, the US journalist behind the Edward Snowden
intelligence leaks, launched a legal challenge in Britain on Wednesday over his
detention under anti-terror laws.
David
Miranda, a Brazilian citizen, was held for nine hours at London's Heathrow
Airport on August 18 while police questioned him about the material leaked by
former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Snowden.
Miranda,
28, was stopped while in transit from Germany to Brazil, where he lives with
former Guardian journalist Greenwald, and had items including his laptop computer
and mobile phone taken from him.
Lawyers for
Miranda attended the High Court in London to challenge the use of Schedule 7 of
the Terrorism Act 2000, which grants police special powers at British ports and
airports to detain suspects without probable cause.
Matthew
Ryder, the lawyer for Miranda, who was not in court, told judges that the use
of the power to take journalistic material in this way "appears to be
unprecedented".
"This
claim is about the use of counter-terrorism powers, that can only be used at
ports and airports, to seize journalistic material," Ryder told the High
Court judges.
He said the
police powers were used for "an improper purpose", which was not to
determine whether Miranda was involved in terrorism but in fact to help
Britain's intelligence services access material that he was carrying.
The use of
those powers was "disproportionate interference with his right to freedom
of expression", Ryder said.
Miranda is
applying for a judicial review of the detention.
But the
lawyer for Britain's Home Office, or interior ministry, Steven Kovats, said the
detention was justified because publication of the Snowden files could be
considered as terrorism and put lives at risk.
"Disclosure
of all the material stolen by Mr Snowden would be gravely damaging to the
national security of the United Kingdom," Kovats said, adding that
"such disclosure would endanger lives."
Snowden
faces criminal charges in the United States for leaking top-secret documents
about the NSA, which were originally published in Britain's Guardian newspaper.
Russia has
granted Snowden temporary asylum.
Investigative
reporter Greenwald resigned last month from The Guardian to join a journalistic
project with the founder of eBay, Pierre Omidyar.
Greenwald
has previously spoken out angrily about Miranda's detention.
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