David Miranda

David Miranda   (politician, whistleblower)
Born	10 May 1985
Died	9 May 2023 (Age 37)
Spouse	Glenn Greenwald
Victim of	premature death
Played a key role in Edward Snowden's global surveillance leaks. Died of a gastrointestinal infection aged 37

David Michael dos Santos Miranda was a Brazilian politician and Federal Congressman representing the state of Rio de Janeiro (2019 to 2023). David Miranda played a key role in Edward Snowden's global surveillance leaks. Miranda was admitted to hospital in August 2022 with a severe gastrointestinal infection and died early on Tuesday 9 May 2023 after nine months in intensive care.

Detained at Heathrow

In August 2013, Miranda was carrying a thumb drive with classified material provided by Edward Snowden when he was detained by the British government at London's Heathrow Airport under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 on a layover between Berlin and Rio de Janeiro. The material had been given to Miranda by Laura Poitras, intended for his husband, American journalist Glenn Greenwald. His belongings were seized, including the thumb drive and other electronics equipment. Greenwald described his partner's detention as "clearly intended to send a message of intimidation to those of us who have been reporting on the NSA and GCHQ". Miranda described his treatment by the UK authorities as "psychological torture" and later said, "I was sure I was going away to Guantánamo forever."

He sued the British government over his detention, but in 2014 it was ruled lawful by the UK High Court, which accepted that the detention and seizure of computer material was "an indirect interference with press freedom", but said this was justified by legitimate and "very pressing" interests of national security. A 2016 ruling by the Court of Appeal found that the provision of the Terrorism Act used for Miranda's detention was "incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights", but that the detention itself was lawful.

Asylum for Snowden

David Miranda led the campaign for the Brazilian government to grant political asylum to Edward Snowden and worked with Greenwald, to publish the revelations contained in Snowden's leaks detailing mass surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA). He met with Luciana Genro, the PSOL candidate for the 2014 Brazilian presidential election, and obtained her commitment to extend asylum to Snowden if elected. Numerous public Brazilian figures supported the campaign, which failed to convince the government of Dilma Rousseff.

 

Related Document

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:The arrest of journalist Richard Medhurst and the fight to defend democratic rights	Article	27 August 2024	Robert Stevens	Now, in a move that would have been agreed to by PM Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Labour has pioneered the use of an amendment to the Terrorism Act passed by the Tories to once again attempt to silence and criminalise a journalist and political activist. The same course is being pursued by governments throughout the world.

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References

This page imported content from Wikipedia on 31 August 2024.
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