Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) in a letter to Michel Temer, President of Brazil has expressed concern over the unjustified incidents of harassing and defaming Encontro reporter Marina Dias on social networking sites.

PPF Secretary General Owais Aslam Ali in his letter, denounced this act and urged the Brazilian government to investigate all such incidents of harassment and attacks on journalists.

According to the Brazilian Association of Investigative Journalism (ABRAJI), the reporter was verbally attacked and trolled on Facebook and Twitter for publishing a report, “Ex-wife said to have suffered threat of death from Bolsanaro, says Itamaraty.”

In a case of mistaken identity, Marina Dias, a magazine reporter for Encontro from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, suffered online harassment on social media because she was mistaken with Folha de S.Paulo’s reporter Marina Dias.

Folha’s Dias reported on Tuesday that Jair Bolsonaro’s (PSL) ex-wife, Ana Cristina Valle, claimed in 2011 to a Brazilian diplomat in Norway that she received death threats from her former husband, currently running for president in the upcoming October general elections. Valle afterward denied on social media that the conversation ever happened.

Bolsonaro’s followers including renowned comedian Danilo Gentili and writer Flavio Gordon shared a picture of the Encontro journalist with offensive comments.

According to ABRAJI, personal data like telephone number, email address, date of birth and personal photos of the Belo Horizonte Marina Dias were all leaked on social media.

Rubens Valente, who worked on the story with Folha’s Dias was also the target of verbal abuse and his picture was also posted with derogatory remarks.

ABRAJI further added that, the increasing number of harassment cases against journalists has motivated the organization to publish a booklet, titled “How to deal with harassment against journalists on networks”, launched in August this year.