WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th January, 2020) The Brazilian government is trying to intimidate renowned US journalist Glenn Greenwald and his outlet The Intercept by charging him with hacking, a coalition of more than 40 rights groups said in an open letter to President Jair Bolsonaro and other senior officials.
On Tuesday, Brazilian federal prosecutors charged Greenwald with assisting six alleged hackers.
"These charges represent a straightforward attempt to intimidate and retaliate against Greenwald and The Intercept for their critical reporting on messages that appeared to show a judge advising federal prosecutors how to prosecute cases he was presiding over in the 'Operation car Wash' investigation," the letter said on Friday.
The rights groups - among which the Freedom of the Press Foundation and Reporters Without Borders - accused the Brazilian government of criminalizing any activity related to investigative journalism.
"The right of journalists to report on Primary source materials documenting official malfeasance is a critically important press freedom issue," the rights groups said, adding that Brazil's Federal Prosecutor's Office abused power in Greenwald's case.
Greenwald is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who published documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that exposed the US government's mass surveillance program. Greenwald lives in Rio de Janeiro with his family.
