14 DAY TRIAL // In a slightly ironic turn of events, the Russian authorities are slamming the United Kingdom over the double standards used in dealing with The Guardian.
While Russia may not be a country specifically known for its freedom of speech, even they can see how badly the UK’s actions reflect upon them after detaining Glenn Greenwald’s partner for no reason and putting The Guardian in a tight spot by requesting they hand over NSA documents and ending in the destruction of their hard drives.
“The moves taken by the UK authorities in relation with the Guardian newspaper office are discordant with the statements of the British side on their adherence to universal human rights standards, including that of the freedom of media, the rights of journalists and the protection of private life,” said Aleksandr Lukashevich, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, RT reports.
According to him, the incident is just another example of the “double standards practice applied by London in the sphere of human rights.”
The Guardian’s Alan Rusbringer revealed that, after some phone discussions with a ministry official on the issue of handing over the NSA documents in their possession, a few GCHQ agents came and demanded the same thing.
Faced with the editor’s refusal, they said the only alternative was to smash their hard drives in order to prevent publishing of any further leaks. Of course, copies are also located elsewhere and the destructions of said drives is simply proof that the newspaper will not permit such intimidation techniques.
The news about this came soon after it was revealed that David Miranda, Glenn Greenwald’s partner, was detained under anti-terrorism laws at London’s Heathrow airport where officers demanded for his passwords to his electronic devices.
It was known, it appears, that he was bringing the journalist documents from Laura Poitras, US film-maker that has been working with Greenwald since the Snowden saga began.