Glenn Greenwald criticizes the Australian government after Djokovic's deportation.

247 - Journalist Glenn Greenwald, who for many years edited the website The Intercept, distributed his newsletter this Sunday, in which he harshly criticized the Australian government for the deportation of Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic. "Note that the Australian government, in deporting Djokovic, did not claim that he posed a threat to public health due to the risk of COVID transmission. The opposite is true: the government recognized that he qualified for a legal exemption from the vaccine requirement to enter the country, since he had just contracted COVID, reflected by a positive test on December 16, followed by a negative test on December 22, and therefore high levels of natural immunity. This is why he was granted a legal visa to enter Australia despite not being vaccinated. The justification presented by Immigration Minister Alex Hawke, who cancelled his visa and ordered his deportation, was that Djokovic's statements in April 2020 implied that he was skeptical of vaccines and the presence in Australia of someone who is seen as an 'icon' of personal choice would promote social disruption and 'excite' anti-vaccine sentiments," Glenn wrote.

"In other words, the principle that has just been adopted by the Australian government and upheld by its judicial system (whose hands were largely tied due to the virtually absolute power vested in the government) is that anyone who has ever expressed any skepticism about vaccines in general, or the COVID vaccine in particular, can and should be prevented from entering the country and prevented from earning their livelihood – even if the government admits that they do not pose a threat to public health by transmitting the virus to other people. Immigration lawyers and civil liberties activists in the country are warning about the serious dangers this precedent poses to everyone," the journalist further pointed out.