UK – How UK’s terrorism law targets words, not just guns and bombs
The legal definition of terrorism risks criminalising legitimate freedom of expression, according to the UK's terror watchdog. David Anderson QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, has recommended narrowing the definition in the Terrorism Act 2000. In his annual report, Anderson said the breadth of the UK terrorism definition was graphically illustrated in the David Miranda case , partner of the former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald. Last August, Miranda was detained at Heathrow airport for nearly nine hours while he was bringing Greenwald computer files of intelligence documents. In February, the high court concluded that Miranda's detention, under schedule 7 of the act, had been lawful because disclosure of the material he was carrying came within the definition of terrorism — a definition that was always intended to be "very wide",…