US news outlet campaigns against Brazil on co-founder

The Intercept, the American online news publication, has started a campaign to seek condemnation of Brazilian prosecutors' decision against the outlet's co-founder.

Glenn Greenwald is accused of working with a criminal organization after The Intercept began publishing a series of investigative stories that sent shocks through Brazil in June.

"There is no democracy without a free press. We ask advocates for press freedom everywhere to join in condemning the [Brazil's President Jair] Bolsonaro government’s transparent effort to intimidate and criminalize journalists," The Intercept tweeted.

"In an obvious attempt to retaliate against The Intercept’s critical reporting on abuses committed by Brazilian judicial officials, prosecutors have filed a criminal complaint against our co-founder Glenn Greenwald," it added.

It called on prosecutors to "respect press freedom and drop this blatant politically motivated charge," reiterating its support to Greenwald and The Intercept's team in Brazil.

The news outlet aims to reach 25,000 actions, while 15,318 people already participated in the campaign.

Brazilian prosecutors on Tuesday accused Greenwald of involvement in hacking the phones of public officials and prosecutors involved in a corruption investigation with a criminal group after he recently published stories describing private messages between public prosecutors.

Although prosecutors have proposed the charges, a judge still needs to rule whether to indict him.

Prosecutors showed an unreleased audio links Greenwald to the group of hackers, saying he was "seeking to subvert the idea of protection of a journalistic source into immunity to guide criminals."

The Intercept is an online news publication dedicated to what it describes as "adversarial journalism," with the central aim of holding "the most powerful governmental and corporate factions accountable."

It is owned by an American media organization First Look Media and publishes in English and Portuguese.