File picture of David Miranda
London:
The partner of US journalist Glenn Greenwald, who helped publish Edward Snowden's leaked files, won a limited injunction today from Britain's High Court protecting material seized during his detention at a London airport.
The injunction stops the British government and police from "inspecting, copying or sharing" data seized from David Miranda during his detention at Heathrow Airport on Sunday, although examination of the information for national security purposes is allowed.
28-year-old Miranda assisted Greenwald, a journalist for The Guardian, as he worked on material leaked by former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Snowden.
Based on the files Snowden provided, the British newspaper has published a series of reports detailing the NSA's mass surveillance programmes, infuriating Washington.
Miranda was detained for nine hours at the airport by police and agents using anti-terror laws, and said he had his laptop, phone and other electronic equipment confiscated.
He had been travelling from Berlin - where he had been visiting a filmmaker - to his and Greenwald's home in Rio de Janeiro when he was stopped.
Miranda was not in court but his lawyer Gwendolen Morgan said: "The purpose of these proceedings is to protect the confidentiality of the sensitive journalistic material that was seized from the claimant.
"Confidentiality, once lost, can clearly never be restored.
"If interim relief (a temporary injunction) is not granted, then the claimant is likely to suffer irremediable prejudice, as are other journalistic sources whose confidential information is contained in the material seized by the defendants."
The injunction stops the British government and police from "inspecting, copying or sharing" data seized from David Miranda during his detention at Heathrow Airport on Sunday, although examination of the information for national security purposes is allowed.
28-year-old Miranda assisted Greenwald, a journalist for The Guardian, as he worked on material leaked by former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Snowden.
Based on the files Snowden provided, the British newspaper has published a series of reports detailing the NSA's mass surveillance programmes, infuriating Washington.
Miranda was detained for nine hours at the airport by police and agents using anti-terror laws, and said he had his laptop, phone and other electronic equipment confiscated.
He had been travelling from Berlin - where he had been visiting a filmmaker - to his and Greenwald's home in Rio de Janeiro when he was stopped.
Miranda was not in court but his lawyer Gwendolen Morgan said: "The purpose of these proceedings is to protect the confidentiality of the sensitive journalistic material that was seized from the claimant.
"Confidentiality, once lost, can clearly never be restored.
"If interim relief (a temporary injunction) is not granted, then the claimant is likely to suffer irremediable prejudice, as are other journalistic sources whose confidential information is contained in the material seized by the defendants."
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