Glenn Greenwald’s partner challenges British detention

Glenn Greenwald’s partner is in British court Wednesday to challenge the legality of his detention over the summer by London police for carrying items provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

In August, David Miranda was held and questioned for nine hours in Heathrow Airport after police seized documents he was carrying, which Snowden leaked. 

British authorities claim Miranda was involved in “espionage” and “terrorism,” Reuters reported last week. 

Miranda was delivering the information back to his partner, Greenwald, who lives in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, after picking it up in Berlin, Germany.

{mosads}British authorities have said the items they seized from Miranda include 58,000 electronic documents from the National Security Agency, and from the Government Communications Headquarters, NSA’s British counterpart, according to Reuters.

When Miranda returned to Brazil, he filed a lawsuit against British authorities for the documents they took and against their decision to take him into custody. 

Greenwald was the first journalist to report on the NSA’s surveillance program after Snowden leaked the first set of classified government documents in June.

The journalist previously reported for The Guardian newspaper, but recently announced he would establish his own news outlet.

In recent weeks, the Obama administration has been taking heat for a slew of new revelations detailing the NSA’s surveillance of foreign governments abroad.

President Obama has ordered the NSA to review the scope of these programs.