Brazil journalists demand probe of spying claims

BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) -- Journalists in Brazil's capital demanded an inquiry on Tuesday into reports the government's intelligence agency spied on a news magazine editor in an episode reminiscent of the dark days of dictatorship.

The request for an inquiry into the Brazilian Intelligence Agency followed weekend news of allegations of spying on politicians, a public prosecutor and a journalist -- outside the crime-busting organization's duties.

The agency became Brazil's first intelligence unit under civilian rule when it was created in December 1999. It is Brazil's first formal intelligence agency since the feared National Information Service (NIS) acted as the eyes and ears of the 1964-85 military dictatorships.

The Syndicate of Professional Journalists in the Federal District (of Brasilia), which groups 3,500 journalists working in the capital, said it requested public prosecutors to investigate the allegations made in weekly news magazine Veja.

"It is lamentable that the serious work of a professional, going about his mission to inform, is confused with the acts of criminals and receives this kind of treatment, as happened during the dictatorships," the syndicate said in a statement.

Veja said in its latest issue, published this weekend, that the agency had investigated news magazine editor Andrei Meirelles while he was reporting on a scandal that threatened to reach Brazil's government earlier this year.

Meirelles, who works for weekly magazine IstoE, wrote several stories quoting taped conversations suggesting President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's former chief of staff Eduardo Jorge was involved in a kickback scheme.

The scandal centered on claims that up to $100 million was stolen from a Sao Paulo courthouse building project. The investigation into the scandal fizzled in September with no hard evidence.

The government has denied its intelligence agency, which operates in a similar way to the FBI in the United States, spied on anybody but criminals. Its remit is to analyze information to combat organized crime.

Former President Itamar Franco, who is a loud critic of Cardoso's government, was allegedly investigated by the agency as well, according to Veja.

"We already knew this government was weakened by corruption and now we see it in the shadows invading the privacy of citizens," Franco said in a statement on Monday.

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