By Cory Doctorow
David Miranda is journalist Glenn Greenwald's boyfriend, but he's best known for being detained under the Section 7 of the UK Terrorism Act
while changing planes at Heathrow. The cops held Miranda for nine
hours, the maximum allowed under law, without access to counsel, using
powers intended to allow the detention of people suspected of
connections to terrorism. But it was clear to everyone that Miranda
wasn't connected to terrorism -- rather, the UK establishment was
attempting to intimidate people connected to the Snowden leaks through
arbitrary detention and harassment
Now that Miranda's lawyers are chasing down the people responsible,
we're getting a more detailed picture of the process that led up to
Miranda's detention. Before a Section 7 detention takes place, British
cops have to file a form called a Port Circular Notice, and several
drafts of the Notice used to detain Miranda have come to light.
The final draft argues that Miranda should be detained under terrorism law because "...the
disclosure or threat of disclosure is designed to influence a
government, and is made for the purpose of promoting a political or
ideological cause. This therefore falls within the definition of
terrorism."
In other words: thoughtcrime.
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