Miami (October 29, 2013).- The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) condemns all government harassment or intimidation against Glenn Greenwald and his colleagues’, and supports them for exercising their journalistic duty.
“During our General Assembly in Denver (Colorado) we learned about the pressures applied by governments to force their citizens to make —or accept— a false choice between freedom of expression and national security”, said Claudio Paolillo, Chairman of the Freedom of the Press and Information Committee of IAPA.
On June 2013, journalist Glenn Greenwald contributed to revealing the story of former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden who leaked information regarding telephone and electronic communication spying carried out by the United States government. Greenwald, a former columnist for British newspaper The Guardian is now living in Brazil.
On August 18, the British government detained Brazilian native David Miranda, partner of Greenwald, and seized all his journalistic material while he was delivering said material to Greenwald in Brazil. The British government has not clarified whether Greenwald or Miranda are the subjects of a criminal investigation for the publication of details regarding government surveillance of private citizens’ communications.
“In our opinion, Greenwald’s journalistic work has prompted justifiable concern by government leaders and private citizens regarding secret government surveillance of their communications”, said Paolillo, editor of the Uruguay weekly Busqueda. “We support Greenwald and his journalistic colleagues in the exercise of their professional duty without government harassment or intimidation”, he added.
The IAPA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 print publications from throughout the Western Hemisphere and is based in Miami, Florida. For more information please go to http://www.sipiapa.org.
