14 DAY TRIAL // Despite claims from The Independent that the recently published information regarding a UK base in the Middle East that helps the GCHQ to collect online data came from documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower denies such claims.
“I have never spoken with, worked with, or provided any journalistic materials to the Independent. The journalists I have worked with have, at my request, been judicious and careful in ensuring that the only things disclosed are what the public should know but that does not place any person in danger,” Edward Snowden said in a message published by The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald.
Furthermore, Snowden blames the UK government for the information.
“It appears that the UK government is now seeking to create an appearance that the Guardian and Washington Post’s disclosures are harmful, and they are doing so by intentionally leaking harmful information to The Independent and attributing it to others. The UK government should explain the reasoning behind this decision to disclose information that, were it released by a private citizen, they would argue is a criminal act,” the Russian asylee wrote.
Greenwald then goes and takes on a particular issue that is close to him, namely the scandal that is brewing because of the UK’s “exploitation of the Terrorism Act” by detaining David Miranda, his partner and assistant.
He says that it can’t be a coincidence that as the UK government is trying to convince a court that there are serious dangers to the public safety from these documents, there suddenly appears exactly the type of disclosure the UK wants but has never happened before.
The segment of information Greenwald mentions would never have been published by one of the journalists working with Snowden is the following: “Britain runs a secret internet-monitoring station in the Middle East to intercept and process vast quantities of emails, telephone calls and web traffic on behalf of Western intelligence agencies.”