Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Wednesday, Mar 11, 2026

Brazil prepares to seek extradition of Bolsonaro ally from US

Brazil’s Supreme Court has ordered the arrest of Bolsonaro’s Justice Minister Anderson Torres, who remains in Florida.
Brazilian authorities have given a former justice minister and ally of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro three days to return to the country or face extradition from the United States, as the government pursues those it says are responsible for a far-right riot in the capital last weekend.

The Brazilian Supreme Court has ordered the arrest of Anderson Torres in relation to the riot in Brasilia on January 8, when thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace to overturn October’s election results.

Torres has denied any wrongdoing and said he would turn himself in to present his defence, but he and Bolsonaro remain in the US state of Florida.

The government of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, which has pledged to investigate those who helped finance and plan the attack on the country’s democratic institutions, said on Friday it had not yet presented a US extradition request for Torres.

Justice Minister Flavio Dino told reporters, however, that “if by next week [Torres’s] appearance hasn’t been confirmed, of course, we will use mechanisms of international legal cooperation. We will trigger procedures next week to carry out his extradition”.

Torres, who was sworn in as Brasilia’s security chief on January 2, was in the US on the day of the riot. But he was removed from his post following the attack as Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is running the investigations into the riot, accused him of “neglect and collusion”.

The violence in Brasilia came just weeks after Lula, who previously served as Brazil’s president from 2003 to 2010, narrowly defeated Bolsonaro in an October election run-off, setting off angry protests and blockades by the former far-right leader’s supporters.

For months, Bolsonaro falsely claimed that Brazil’s electronic voting system was vulnerable to fraud, raising fears he planned to contest the results. The ex-president’s campaign also led to accusations this week that he helped spur the riot.

Bolsonaro, who left for the US two days before Lula was sworn in as president on January 1, has rejected that criticism. He tweeted on Sunday that a peaceful protest is part of democracy but vandalism and invasion of public buildings are “exceptions to the rule”.

Still, federal prosecutors on Friday asked the Supreme Court to include Bolsonaro on a list of people under investigation after he posted a video “questioning the regularity of the 2022 presidential elections”.

By doing so, “Bolsonaro would have publicly incited the commission of a crime”, the prosecutor general’s office said in a statement.

The video was posted two days after the riot and later deleted. But the office said that even though it came after the uprising, it may serve as “a probative connection” that justified “a global investigation of the acts performed before and after January 8, 2023 by the defendant”.

Dino, Brazil’s justice minister, told reporters earlier that no connection has yet been established between the capital riot and Bolsonaro.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s police raided Torres’s home earlier this week, discovering a draft of an order that would have taken control of Brazil’s electoral authority and potentially overturned the election.

The document’s origins remain unclear, and Dino said Torres would need to share information about where it originated.

By failing to initiate a probe against the document’s author or report its existence, Torres could be charged with dereliction of duty, Mario Sergio Lima, a political analyst at Medley Advisors, told The Associated Press news agency.

Torres said on Twitter that the document was probably found in a pile along with others intended for shredding and that it was leaked out of context to feed false narratives aimed at discrediting him.

The federal district’s former governor and former military police chief are also targets of the Supreme Court investigation made public on Friday. Both were removed from their positions after the riot.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Aramco Warns Global Oil Market Faces ‘Catastrophic’ Shock if Strait of Hormuz Remains Closed
Iran Launches Drone and Missile Attacks Across Gulf Targets Including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain
Saudi Arabia Elevates Fahad Al-Saif as Vision 2030 Enters Crucial Implementation Phase
Saudi Aramco Expands Routes to Move Oil Without Reliance on the Strait of Hormuz
Saudi Arabia and Pakistan Reaffirm Mutual Defense Cooperation Following Iran Strike
Saudi Arabia Plans Major Ukrainian Arms Deal to Counter Iranian Drone Threat
Pentagon Signals Intensification of U.S. Air Campaign as Iran Conflict Escalates
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham Raises Prospect of Mutual Defense Pact With Saudi Arabia Amid Iran Conflict
Why Saudi Arabia Is Unlikely to Have Wanted U.S. Airstrikes on Iran
Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Oil Exports Set to Reach Record High as Gulf Routes Face Disruption
Saudi Arabia Pushes East–West Oil Pipeline Toward Full Capacity as Hormuz Crisis Disrupts Global Energy Flows
Oil Prices Retreat From Peak as G7 Weighs Release of Strategic Reserves
Pentagon Identifies U.S. Soldier Who Died After Iranian Strike on Saudi Air Base
Why Saudi Arabia’s $50 Billion ‘The Line’ Megacity Slowed — and How Artificial Intelligence Is Reshaping the Plan
United States Withdraws Diplomatic Staff from Saudi Arabia and Southeast Turkey as Regional Conflict Escalates
Fanatics Moves Tom Brady Flag Football Showcase from Saudi Arabia to Los Angeles Amid Regional War
Saudi Arabia Seeks Strategic Support from Pakistan After Iranian Missile and Drone Attacks
Saudi Arabia Begins Oil Output Cuts as Hormuz Disruption Forces Storage Limits
Saudi Arabia Travel Advisory Tightened as Middle East War Triggers Regional Security Alerts
Saudi Arabia Warns Iran It Will Be ‘Biggest Loser’ as Drone Strikes Spread Across Gulf States
Lindsey Graham Urges Saudi Arabia to Join US Effort Against Iran as War Expands
Saudi Crown Prince Holds Strategic Calls With Spanish and Ukrainian Leaders Amid Regional Tensions
Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways Shifts Operations to Saudi Arabia Amid Regional Airspace Disruptions
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix: Why Jeddah’s Night Race Has Become One of Formula One’s Most Distinctive Events
F1 Leadership Addresses Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Races as Middle East Conflict Raises Safety Concerns
Zelenskyy Offers Saudi Crown Prince Assistance to Counter Iranian Drone Threat
Seventh U.S. Service Member Dies from Injuries After Iranian Strike in Saudi Arabia
Civilian Infrastructure Increasingly Hit as Iran Conflict Expands and Saudi Arabia Reports First Fatalities
Saudi Arabia Warns Iran to Halt Attacks and Signals Potential Retaliation
US Embassy in Riyadh Issues Security Alert Urging Americans to Shelter in Place Amid Regional Attacks
Projectile Strike on Saudi Residential Building Kills Two as Regional Conflict Expands
Saudi Arabia Warns Iran While Expanding Diplomatic Efforts to Contain Widening Middle East War
Iran’s President Rejects U.S. Surrender Demand as Drone and Missile Strikes Hit Gulf States
Saudi Arabia Intercepts Drone Swarm Targeting Strategic Shaybah Oil Field
Pakistan Faces Growing Pressure to Balance Ties With Iran and Saudi Arabia as Regional War Intensifies
Middle East Conflict Tests Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision to Transform Saudi Arabia Into a Global Hub
Proposed U.S.–Saudi Nuclear Deal Could Ease Traditional Nonproliferation Requirements
Iran Claims Strike on U.S.-Linked Oil Tanker Near Saudi Waters as Maritime Tensions Escalate
Saudi Arabia Says Air Defences Destroyed 23 Drones and Three Missiles Amid Escalating Regional Conflict
Saudi Arabia Warns Iran Against ‘Miscalculation’ After Missile and Drone Attacks Across Gulf
Iranian Missiles Intercepted Across Gulf as Air Defences Activate in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE and Bahrain
U.S. Justice Department Pursues Criminal Cases Against Cuban Officials in New Legal Push
Abrupt Cancellation of U.S. Army Exercise Sparks Speculation Over Possible Middle East Deployment
Saudi Arabia Led OPEC Output Surge Ahead of Iran Strikes, Survey Finds
Cristiano Ronaldo Travels to Spain for Hamstring Treatment After Injury in Saudi Pro League Match
Saudi Aramco Reroutes Oil to Red Sea as Strait of Hormuz Disruptions Hit Gulf Exports
Saudi Arabia Presses Ahead With Economic Diversification Despite Fiscal and External Deficits
Middle East Conflict Puts Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Formula One Races at Risk
Iran Targets Israeli Diplomatic Site in Bahrain and US Air Base in Qatar as Regional Conflict Expands
Saudi Arabia Intercepts Three Ballistic Missiles Targeting Prince Sultan Air Base
×