Britain’s High Court on Wednesday endorsed the detention of journalist Glenn Greenwald’s partner and the seizure his documents at a london airport last summer, rejecting arguments that the stop amounted to a violation of free expression.
A panel of three judges said london’s Metropolitan Police officers acted properly when they invoked terrorism legislation to stop David Miranda at Heathrow Airport on August 18, seizing encrypted devices and questioning him for nearly nine hours.
Writing on the panel’s behalf, lord Justice John laws said that the devices contained a large number of documents leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, including nearly 60,000 “highly classified UK intelligence documents.” The detention “was a proportionate measure in the circumstances,” laws said. “Its objective was not only legitimate, but very pressing.”