Journalist/Activist Glenn Greenwald Announces Politician Husband David Miranda Has Died

Glenn Greenwald's politician husband David Miranda has died aged 37 after a nine-month intensive care battle following a gastrointestinal infection, reports the Daily Mail.

"Greenwald posted a heartbreaking tribute Tuesday morning announcing Miranda's death, alongside photos with their two sons, aged 13 and 15. The journalist and lawyer called him 'the most dedicated and loving parent. He taught me how to be a father,'" writes the DM.

President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva celebrated the "extraordinary trajectory" of the favela-born politician who served in the country's congress between 2019 and 2022 and was a powerful voice of resistance during the far-right administration of Jair Bolsonaro, reports The Guardian. Miranda was a columnist for the Guardian's U.S. edition.

"He would have turned 38 tomorrow," Greenwald tweeted. "He died in full peace, surrounded by our children and family and friends."

He added: "It is with the most profound sadness that I announce the passing away of my husband, @DavidMirandaRio. He would have turned 38 tomorrow. His death, early this morning, came after a 9-month battle in ICU. He died in full peace, surrounded by our children and family and friends."

Last August Miranda was admitted to the ICU at Clínica São Vicente in Rio with severe abdominal pain. The cause of death was pancreatitis and a gastrointestinal infection that progressed to septicemia, his doctors told local press.

Greenwald, 56, remembered how his husband had been born in Jacarezinho, one of Rio's most deprived favelas, and been orphaned at the age of five after the death of his mother.

"Despite those humble origins, Miranda rose to become the first gay man elected to Rio's city council and played an important role in 2013's Edward Snowden leaks, which Greenwald spearheaded. That year, Miranda was controversially detained for nine hours at London's Heathrow airport as he travelled back to Rio with memory sticks containing documents relating to that project," writes The Guardian.

"He inspired so many with his biography, passion, and force of life," Greenwald wrote. "David was singular: the strongest, most passionate, most compassionate man I've known. Nobody had a bad word for him. I can't describe the loss and pain."

According to the New York Times, the couple met in February 2005 when Greenwald was sitting alone on an Ipanema beach, nursing a broken heart, and a young man accidentally knocked over his drink with a ball.

"Mr. Miranda, who was then 19, apologized profusely in broken English. Mr. Greenwald, who was 37, accepted the apology and asked the young Brazilian out to dinner. Three days later, the pair had essentially moved in together, to the dismay of friends on both sides, who saw nothing but red flags as two radically different lives began to meld."

Greenwald said he was not the type to fall in love "at first sight."

"But the passion, David's intensity, it was like two asteroids colliding," he said.

Rest in paradise, Mr. Miranda.