UN: Press should NOT be 'intimidated into silence' over state secrets
UN: press should not be 'intimidated into silence' over state secrets
Representatives criticise UK government following detention of David Miranda, and call for public debate over NSA surveillance
Josh Halliday and Ewen MacAsk * The Guardian, Wednesday 4 September 2013
Two senior UN representatives have warned the British government that the protection of state secrets must not be used as an excuse to "intimidate the press into silence" following the detention of David Miranda under the Terrorism Act.
Frank La Rue, the UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression, issued the caution as he
called for a public debate on the mass surveillance revelations exposed by the National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.
"The protection of national security secrets must never be used as an excuse to intimidate the press into silence and backing off from its crucial work in the clarification of human rights violations," said La Rue. "The press plays a central role in the clarification of human rights abuses."
La Rue and Ben Emmerson, the UN special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, have written to David Cameron's government requesting further information on the legality of Miranda's detention at Heathrow airport on 18 August.
Documents and electronic devices carried by Miranda, the partner of the Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, were seized by the Metropolitan police when he was held for questioning for nine hours under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act. La Rue said:
"It is clear that the revelations on the extensive mass surveillance initiatives implemented by some governments needs to be widely debated.
"The intimidation of journalists and newspapers questioning alleged abuses by intelligence bodies is certainly not a contribution to the open debate that needs to take place. Under no circumstances, journalists, members of the media, or civil society organisations who have access to classified information on an alleged violation of human rights should be subjected to intimidation and subsequent punishment."
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/sep/04/un-press-intimidation-state-secrets