The Guardian’s Editor Will Be Questioned By MPs Over Publications Of Snowden Leaks

The Guardian has reported that its editor, Alan Rusbridger, will be questioned by MPs next month about the Guardian’s activity in running news stories based on the “Snowden files”. For anyone living in the UK, the recent crack down on press freedom has been quite worrying to observe. The Guardian has been constantly harassed by UK security forces about the content it has been publishing – the UK government even forced the Guardian to destroy all its company hard drives in its UK offices or hand over the leaked files bestowed on them by Edward Snowden. Of course the Guardian opted to destroy their hard drives, knowing that they had several digital back ups stored overseas of those “Snowden files”. The UK government also used terrorism laws to intercept and question the partner of former Guardian writer Glenn Greenwald. Public rhetoric by senior government officials and members of the UK’s security forces has mainly attacked the actions of leakers and journalists involved in publishing those leaks, accusing them of damaging national security.

Alan Rusbridger will have to defend the actions of his newspaper to MPs in the wake of strong criticisms by MI6, MI5 and GCHQ who claim terrorist groups are now changing their behaviour as a result of the Snowden leaks. Government agencies in the UK say the leaks are immensely dangerous and mean dangerous criminals and terrorists can now more easily avoid detection, putting public safety at risk. In addition to defending the actions of his newspaper, Rusbridger is going to be questioned on whether the Guardian had a role in facilitating the transfer of the “Snowden files” to overseas publications in the USA and other places.

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