14 DAY TRIAL // The British government’s reaction to mass surveillance unveiled by Edward Snowden and the way they act towards the media has raised quite a few eyebrows over the past several months, including the slap on the wrist coming from about 70 human rights organizations from across the world.
Now, the United Nations is the one to admonish the British, saying that the government’s response to the situation is damaging UK’s international reputation for investigative journalism and press freedom.
Frank La Rue is the UN specialist rapporteur on freedom of expression. He said he was alarmed by the reaction the political leaders had to the revelations based on the Snowden files.
“I have been absolutely shocked about the way the Guardian has been treated, from the idea of prosecution to the fact that some members of parliament even called it treason. I think that is unacceptable in a democratic society,” said La Rue.
So far, the British authorities have made their displeasure with the leaks quite obvious. First, they asked the Guardian to stop publishing the stories, going on to ask for them to hand over the top-secret documents from the Snowden stash or have their hard drives destroyed. The newspaper chose the latter option, although in the digital age, they admitted it was a symbolic decision, as copies of the files were also located elsewhere.
Then, they detained former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald’s partner, David Miranda, at the Heathrow airport under the Terrorism Act, although it was clear that the man had nothing to do with such practices.
Further on, the country’s officials, including David Cameron, the prime minister, have expressed their displeasure with the Guardian’s coverage of the subject and threatened to take measures if they did not stop what they were doing. This has triggered an avalanche of protests from human rights associations and media freedom fighters.