Brasilia, July 27 (RHC)-- Brazil's Justice Minister Sergio Moro signed a decree Friday limiting the legal stay of foreigners in the country under criminal investigation, or labeled "dangerous" by Brazilian or foreign intelligence services.  Not so coincidentally, decree number 666 can be used against Glenn Greenwald, the U.S. journalist living over a decade in Brazil who co-founded The Intercept.

Glenn Greenwald helped author a three-part series in The Intercept in June that revealed, in detail, Moro's illegal influence over the case against former president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that Moro presided over as judge. The publications also show how Moro, directed much of the Lava Jato (Car Wash) corruption trials and proceedings.

The move comes two days after four people were arrested on charges of hacking Moro's and President Jair Bolsonaro's cell phones. In a Friday Tweet, Greenwald hinted to their likely effort to use the decree to target him in a Tweet.

As part of the sprawling Car Wash case, Moro was responsible for sending former president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, to jail in April 2018 to serve a 12-year sentence for supposedly accepting bribes from the Brazilian construction company, Odebrecht while in office. His sentence has since been slightly reduced.

On June 9, The Intercept disclosed private Telegram conversations between then-judge Moro and Deltan Dallagnol, the main state prosecutor in the Car Wash corruption scandal, showing that the two colluded to convict Lula last year.

The evidence against Moro, released in a three-part series by the online media outlet, showed Moro went to great lengths to imprison Lula and prevent him from running in the 2018 presidential elections.

On July 25, local media, Folha de S. Paulo reported that one of those arrested this week on the hacking charges, informed the federal police he anonymously sent chats from the phones to Greenwald, but had not demanded payment.  

The Brazilian Press Association (ABI) condemned the decree as "unconstitutional," saying it was an "abuse of power." In a communique, ABI's President Paulo Jeronimo, said the association will challenge the decree in court if Greenwald or other journalists were targeted. Greenwald, who has resided over a decade in Brazil, is married to Brazilian legislator, David Miranda. The couple has two adopted children.

On Friday, The Intercept reported that Brazil's Attorney General Office had just filed two complaints demanding the outlet to be censored. One request was made by national lawmaker, Heitor Freire from Bolsonaro's Liberal Social Party, while the other was filed anonymously.

The Attorney General's Office declared that censorship was not in vigor in a democratic state like Brazil and that the rule of law applied.