Request to Jair Bolsonaro: “Drop criminal charge against Glenn Greenwald”
When The Intercept first published documents revealing serious and systematic improprieties by Brazilian judicial officials, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro threatened to put Glenn Greenwald in prison.
The federal prosecutors filed a criminal complaint recklessly accusing Glenn of involvement in a “criminal organization” — the fulfillment of Justice Minister Sergio Moro’s threats to classify our team in Brazil as “allies of the hackers” for revealing his corruption.
The Intercept has never let powerful governments bully us into silence, and we will not now be intimidated by what the ACLU has already called “an outrageous assault on the freedom of the press.”
That’s why we’re asking advocates for press freedom everywhere to join in condemning the Bolsonaro government’s transparent effort to intimidate and criminalize journalists.
As Glenn said yesterday (21 genuary, 2020) , “the Bolsonaro government has repeatedly made it clear that it does not believe in basic press freedoms.”
We at The Intercept are appalled that Brazil’s Public Ministry has brought such a blatant politically motivated charge, even after the country’s Federal Police concluded in November that Glenn did not commit any crimes in his contact with the alleged source of our Secret Brazil Archive stories.
It’s an attempt to criminalize not only our journalism but also that of the dozens of partners who collaborated with our staff in over 95 stories based on the archives revealed by Glenn and his colleagues’ reporting.
For months, international observers have warned about Bolsonaro’s attacks on our team. The principle of press freedom in Brazil now depends on demonstrating widespread outrage about this new criminal complaint. I hope you’ll add your voice.
Betsy Reed
membership@emails.theintercept.com
Stand With Glenn Greenwald: https://join.theintercept.com/sign/standwithglenn/?t=2&akid=1175%2E126713%2EQlHgGJ
