'The arrest of terrorism suspects is a poorly told story'

The episode involving the arrests of ten suspects accused of sympathizing with terrorist groups, in the so-called Operation Hashtag, or of representing a serious threat to national security, is viewed with suspicion by USP professor Laurindo Lalo Leal Filho and former deputy Adriano Diogo (PT), former president of the "Rubens Paiva" Truth Commission of the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo (Alesp); "It's a very poorly told story. We don't have enough information. The information being given is very precarious," says Adriano Diogo; for Leal, "the idea they want to convey to society is that this interim government is competent even to confront the Islamic State, to confront this type of attack that has international repercussions, because the event is reported worldwide."

July 23, 2016, 18:01 pmUpdated June 30, 2018, 01:23 pm

The episode involving the arrests of ten suspects accused of sympathizing with terrorist groups, in the so-called Operation Hashtag, or of representing a serious threat to national security, is viewed with suspicion by USP professor Laurindo Lalo Leal Filho and former deputy Adriano Diogo (PT), former president of the "Rubens Paiva" Truth Commission of the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo; "It's a very poorly told story. We don't have enough information. The information being given is very weak," says Adriano Diogo; for Leal, "the idea they want to convey to society is that this interim government is competent even to confront the Islamic State, to confront this type of attack that has international repercussions, because the event is reported around the world" (Photo: Leonardo Lucena)

Eduardo Maretti, from Rebuildables - The episode involving the arrests of ten suspects accused of sympathizing with terrorist groups, in the so-called Operation Hashtag, or of representing a serious threat to national security, is viewed with suspicion by Laurindo Lalo Leal Filho, a professor at the University of São Paulo (USP), and former congressman Adriano Diogo (PT), a human rights activist and former president of the "Rubens Paiva" Truth Commission of the São Paulo Legislative Assembly. "It's a very poorly told story. We don't have enough evidence. The information being provided is very weak," says Adriano Diogo.

According to Lalo Leal, "the idea they want to convey to society is that this interim government is competent even to confront the Islamic State, to confront this type of attack that has international repercussions, because the event is reported around the world."

“Once again, there is a combination of interests from the interim government and the media, regarding an episode that, from my point of view, is minor, trying to give it a greater dimension than it has. Simply to enhance a hypothetical competence of this government, taking advantage of some elements that may be real. The interim government and the media are reinforcing that this is an act of high competence by the federal government. I think it all boils down to that,” adds the professor.

He recalls that the Minister of Justice himself, Alexandre de Moraes, characterized the group as "amateurish." "In fact, I don't even know if they are a group; they seem more like people who have contact with each other, but they don't form an organized group." On Wednesday, the minister stated that the group "was an amateur cell, without any planned preparation."

Adriano Diogo questions the disclosure of the imminent threat and the situation created two weeks before the opening of the Olympic Games. “There was a World Cup here and there wasn’t a scratch. Suddenly, 15 days before the Olympics, a terrorist cell appears! In Rio, Dornelles issued that public calamity decree and 50 tickets were sold out (of the Olympics"Only that day. Now they 'discover' a terrorist cell. Who's going to want to come to Brazil?"

On June 17th, the acting governor of Rio de Janeiro, Francisco Dornelles, declared a state of public calamity due to "a serious economic crisis plaguing the state."

Diogo points out that the Anti-Terrorism Law “created all the conditions” for actions like the one taken by the Minister of Justice. “And Dilma signed that law. That's where all the mistakes started. Now, anyone can be prosecuted.”

Law

A Law No. 13.260 It was signed into law by President Dilma Rousseff on March 16, 2016, amid protests from progressive sectors and human rights activists. seminar promoted by Forum 21 Regarding the topic, discussed at the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo on November 11th of last year, the jurist Pedro Serrano stated that such legislation, which was still a bill at the time, "is a pure importation of exceptional measures of European origin, which were transferred to Brazil unnecessarily."

At the time, Reginaldo Nasser, a professor of International Relations at PUC-SP, said that the creation of the law "is part of the United States' strategy." He also stated that "Brazil has entered the orbit of this concern."

At the same event, Márcio Sotelo Felippe, former attorney general of the state of São Paulo, pointed out that the project posed a "serious risk to democracy." "So much so that, in its justifications, it refers to Brazil's international commitments."