Former attorney to whistleblower Edward Snowden Jesselyn Radack was detained and questioned by London Heathrow Airport Border Force in London while going through customs and says they tried to intimidate her and showed no interest in her documents, according to RT.com.
Radack was on her way to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where Wikileaks founder Julian Assange continues to be holed up, RT.com reported. A meeting of the Sam Adams Associates whistleblowers' group was to take place.
During the interrogation, which took place in a separate room, Radack said the officials were "very hostile," and and asked bizarre questions, according to RT.com.
"Who will you be seeing?" asked the agent, RT.com reported. Radack replied with the name of the group, and named members Ray McGovern, Annie Machon, Thomas Drake, Craig Murray, adding that she is also a member.
"Why have you gone to Russia twice in three months?" the agent asked Radack, according to RT.com, to which she replied that it was to see her client Edward Snowden.
The agent then asked who Edward Snowden is, and Radack replied that he was a whistleblower, RT.com reported.
He then asked her "Who is Bradley Manning?" with Radack answering once more "a whistleblower," according to RT.com.
"Where is he?" the agent asked of the jailed leaker, now known as Chelsea Manning. Radack replied -"in jail". "So he's a criminal?", he retorted. "He's a political prisoner," came the reply from Radack, who was unwilling to lose her composure and continued replying dryly to every question, RT.com reported.
The reason Radack was detained and questioned is because she is on the so-called "inhibited persons list," a category created by the Department of Homeland Security implying that a TSA agent has the authority not to grant that person passenger a border pass and/or allow them into the next area, according to RT.com.
Following the ordeal at Heathrow, Radack came out with a public statement denouncing the whole practice and the harassment it often entails: "The government, whether in the US, UK or elsewhere does not have the authority to monitor, harass or intimidate lawyers for representing unpopular clients," RT.com reported.
The events come on the heels of new revelations about the extent of NSA powers in their mission to curb or somehow influence the ability of lawyers to communicate with their clients, if those clients are of interest to the United States, according to RT.com.
Radack once told RT that despite the fact that "it's a dangerous time for whistleblowers in the US,"Snowden's revelations have had a big effect as "courage is contagious." She added that "I really think [Snowden] has had a wonderful effect [on] the US and the world."
