After
UK
Charges
Miranda As
Terrorist, UN
Tells ICP To
"Ask UNESCO"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 4 --
Even after a
National
Security
Agency
document
leaked by
whistleblower
Edward Snowden
showed that UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
talking points
for meeting
President
Barack
Obama this
year were
spied on,
Ban's
spokesperson
Farhan Haq had
no
new comment on
Monday.
Inner
City Press
asked
spokesperson
Haq if Ban or
the UN have
any comment
on the United
Kingdom
charging David
Miranda with
"terrorism"
for
transporting
encrypted NSA
documents.
Haq
said the UN
hasn't seen
the basis of
the charge.
But it is
online:
"Additionally
the
disclosure, or
threat of
disclosure, is
designed to
influence a
government and
is made for
the purpose of
promoting a
political or
ideological
cause. This
therefore
falls within
the definition
of
terrorism..."
Inner
City Press
read this out
loud to Haq at
Monday's UN
noon briefing.
He
still had no
specific
comment,
beyond a
generic
statement that
journalists
should be able
to work their
work,
suggesting
that Inner
City Press
should "ask
UNESCO."
Ban
has previously
said that
Snowden
misused
information
and his
position
-- then
claimed this
was in a
"private"
meeting with
Icelandic
parliamentarians.
Inner City
Press has
asked: who's
misused?
It's
worth noting
that, at least
as to
Ethiopia, the
UN system's
Navi
Pillay has
previously
criticized the
use of
anti-terrorism
laws
against
journalists.
Will the UN
say that when
the United
Kingdom,
with its
Permanent seat
on the
Security
Council, does
it? Watch this
site.
, 
