Miranda wins UK injunction on Snowden leaks
Court rules that items seized from partner of Guardian journalist who helped publish files cannot be “copied or shared”.
The partner of US journalist Glenn Greenwald, who helped publish Edward Snowden’s leaked files, has won a limited injunction from Britain’s High Court protecting material seized during his detention at a London airport.
The court ruling on Thursday stops the British government and police from “inspecting, copying or sharing” data seized from David Miranda during his detention at Heathrow Airport, although examination of the information for national security purposes is allowed.
Miranda was not in court but his lawyer Gwendolen Morgan said that the purpose of the proceedings was to protect the confidentiality of the sensitive journalistic material that was seized from the claimant.
Police used an anti-terrorism law to detain Miranda at London’s main airport for nine hours on Sunday.
Miranda’s electronic equipment was also confiscated, and he was questioned about both his links to the Guardian and his private life.
Defending the detention, the British government said on Tuesday that police were right to stop people suspected of possessing “highly sensitive stolen information that would help terrorism”.
Greenwald has published stories about US and British surveillance programmes based on documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
Snowden faces criminal charges in the US for his actions. He is currently living in Russia, which has rejected US calls for his return.