There’s a very delicate balance between national security and individual liberty, a balance that’s sometimes very difficult to maintain. These are dangerous times and since the monstrous attacks of September 11th, 2001 the West has had to live in constant fear of those who would destroy us.
We in the UK, like most western countries, have given our government extended powers of arrest, detention and investigation in an attempt to provide further protection from the threat of terrorism. In return the Government surely has a duty to ensure that this power is used firmly, fairly and most important of all, proportionately.
Last week, UK Immigration officers at Heathrow airport detained a young Brazilian man, David Miranda, who just happened to be the partner of Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian newspaper journalist, who recently exposed details of illegal US and UK espionage activities. Miranda was taken away for questioning, locked up in a sealed room, denied the right to see a lawyer until the last minute and was then, after the maximum nine hours of interrogation permitted under the anti-terrorism laws, released without charge.
This was an example of a distortion of that balance between security and liberty, an example of authoritarian behaviour based more on paranoia than an honest attempt to protect the nation from harm. It was an example of a misuse of power, of a government using its extended anti-terrorism power as an instrument of oppression. In short, it was behaviour more redolent of a totalitarian police state than a western democracy. We, and our law-abiding visitors, deserve better.
Common Sense 