The accusation against Greenwald comes after "The Intercept Brasil" published several news stories in 2019 that were based on leaked mobile phone messages.
This statement was originally published on article19.org on 21 January 2020.
ARTICLE 19 has condemned the Brazilian authorities for charging journalist Glenn Greenwald with ‘cybercrimes’ and accusing him of being part of a criminal organization. The accusation comes after The Intercept Brasil published several news stories in 2019 that were based on leaked mobile phone messages. The articles raised serious ethical and legal questions about powerful political figures in Brazil, including the present Justice Minister.
Denis Dora, Executive Director of ARTIGO 19 said:
“The charges against the journalist Glenn Greenwald are of immense concern to us, and further evidence of how fragile journalists’ rights are in Brazil. These charges come after President Jair Bolsonaro threatened him with the possibility of jail time, related to his reporting.”
“The charges by the prosecutors are particularly worrying as they are in contradiction to findings by the Brazilian Federal Police in their December 2019 indictment that no crime could be attributed to Greenwald.”
“We urge the Brazilian authorities to drop all charges again and to protect press freedom.”
Freedom of expression in Brazil
ARTICLE 19’s annual Expression Agenda report, published in December, showed that freedom of expression in Brazil has fallen significantly since 2015. The Global Expression Report 2018-19 is the most comprehensive annual analysis of freedom of expression around the world. It uses data to score countries on five key areas of freedom of expression: Transparency, Civic Space, Protection, Digital and Media. Based on the data for 2018, ARTICLE 19 believes that freedom of expression will decline even further in Brazil under President Jair Bolsonaro.
Dora added:
“With the election of President Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil has become an even more dangerous place to be a communicator. His verbal attacks on the media have serious repercussions for the safety of journalists and human rights defenders.”