© Ricardo Moraes/ReutersJournalist Glenn Greenwald, left, walks with his partner, David Miranda, in Rio de Janeiro's International Airport. U.K. authorities detained Miranda Sunday as he passed through London's Heathrow Airport. Greenwald has close links to Edward Snowden, the former U.S. spy agency contractor who has been granted asylum by Russia
Media watchdogs and observers on Monday widely blasted the detention of David Miranda, the partner of
The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald, as "disturbing" and an "attempt at pure intimidation."
Miranda, a Brazilian citizen, was held for nine hours Sunday at London Heathrow Airport and questioned under Britain's Terrorism Act, a move that many media critics decried in columns and statements on Monday. Miranda, 28, lives in Rio de Janiero with Greenwald and was passing through London's Heathrow airport after spending the week in Berlin with documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras, who has been working with Greenwald to release information leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
The Guardian paid for Miranda's flights, the paper
reported.
Comment: Read also the SOTT focus from December 27 2007, the day Benazir Bhutto was murdered: Benazir Bhutto - A Warning To Us All