Today, David Miranda, the partner of the Guardian journalist (Glenn Greenwald) who has been writing about the illegal activities of the NSA -in cahoots with other government agencies and governments- has been detained for almost 9 hours by the British authorities while he was transiting through the London Heathrow airport.
Apparently, David's electronics (laptop, mobile phone, camera, memory sticks, DVDs, and game consoles) have been 'confiscated' by British authorities without any legal recourse.
If this is not an abusive act of a 'free' government I do not know what abusive acts are. How else can we describe these and other similar actions of the British government but dictatorial? It was not a random act and it was not a matter of miscommunication, that is for sure.
We have totally lost our democratic ways when journalists who expose government abuses get frisked, detained, and have their property stolen while transiting through 'friendly' countries (and serve as tacit crime partners).
Apparently, ANYTHING can be labeled as terrorism. Even writing against fragrant government illegalities can be seen as a terrorist act.
We urgently need an international agency or body to protect us from individual country abuses when they arbitrarily define what terrorist threats and acts are.
Note to self: Never, ever, go to Britain again.
No comments:
Post a Comment