UK authorities detained the partner of journalist Glenn Greenwald, the man who interviewed NSA leaker Ed Snowden, for nine hours at Heathrow Airport; Greenwald blasts it as a “failed attempt at intimidation”.

28-year old David Miranda was traveling from Berlin back home to Brazil where he lives with Greenwald, and like many international travelers had to pass through Heathrow.  That’s where British security informed that he was to be questioned under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000.  The controversial law applies only at airports, ports and border areas.  It allows officers to stop, search, question and detain individuals for up to 9 hours.

Miranda was released, but officials confiscated electronics equipment including his mobile phone, laptop, camera, memory sticks, DVDs, and games consoles.

According to the UK’s own figures, 97 percent of interviews conducted under this law are wrapped up in under an hour, and only one in 2,000 people detained are kept for more than six hours.

Greenwald condemns what he calls a “profound attack” on journalistic freedom.

“To detain my partner for a full nine hours while denying him a lawyer, and then seize large amounts of his possessions, is clearly intended to send a message of intimidation to those of us who have been reporting on the NSA and GCHQ.  The actions of the UK pose a serious threat to journalists everywhere.”

Greenwald has maintained contact with fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden via encrypted email.  The US and UK have been embarrassed by some of their revelations, including:  The US is bugging European Union institutions; The US National Security Agency is targeting 120,000 Internet users; The NSA is tapped directly into major US Internet and Telecom companies; And the NSA stores data on 1 billion cellphone calls daily.

Greenwald says rather than be intimidated, he is “emboldened” to report such things even more aggressively.