The Pegasus case, named after the spyware marketed by the Israeli company NSO Group, continues to have repercussions.
In France, four days after the publication of an investigation revealing the potential surveillance of 50,000 phone numbers selected by NSO customers since 2016, an exceptional Defense Council was convened by Emmanuel Macron on Thursday.
And abroad ?
If the list includes at least 180 journalists, 600 politicians, 85 human rights activists or 65 business leaders from many countries, according to the analysis of the Forbidden Stories consortium, the reactions seem moderate.
Overview.
Read also VIDEO.
Pegasus scandal: decryption of a global spy case
In the camp of the accused, Morocco.
The kingdom has decided to respond judicially to what it calls a "false, massive and malicious media campaign", prosecuting those who accuse Rabat of using spyware.
At the same time, the Moroccan public prosecutor's office announced "the opening of a judicial investigation into these false allegations and accusations in order to identify the parties behind their publication".
Surveys also in Hungary and Israel
In Hungary, another country accused of having used the services of Israeli society, the Budapest public prosecutor's office has opened an investigation following several complaints.
In Israel, where it all began, a parliamentary inquiry was opened.
"The Defense has appointed a committee made up of a number of groups," Ram Ben-Barak, head of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Israeli Parliament (Knesset), told military radio.
"At the end of the investigation (...) we will assess whether we need to make corrections," added the centrist MP and former deputy director of Mossad, the Israeli foreign intelligence service.
Read alsoPresidential 2022: the Pegasus affair rekindles fears of destabilization in the countryside
In Europe, the president of the European Commission, Ursula Van der Leyen, raised the tone and condemned a case "completely unacceptable" if it is proven.
“Press freedom is a core value of the European Union,” she told reporters on the road in Prague.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday asked for more restrictions on the sale of spyware like "Pegasus".
"It is important" that such software "does not end up in the wrong hands" and "that software should not be sold to countries where the monitoring of (wiretapping) operations by the courts is perhaps not not guaranteed ”, declared the Chancellor, recently spied on by the American services via Denmark.
A call that found an echo on the side of New York and the United Nations, where the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, also called for better "regulation" of transfer and technology monitoring.
"Without a regulatory framework that respects human rights, there is simply too much risk that these tools will be misused to intimidate critics and silence those who challenge," she stressed.
"Governments should immediately stop using these surveillance techniques to violate human rights, and must take concrete steps to protect against these privacy intrusions by regulating the distribution, use and export of these surveillance technologies. surveillance created by others.
"
Events in India
However, it is in India that we have seen the most significant reactions. Gatherings were organized in New Delhi by the Progress Party on Tuesday after the revelations concerning the country. The phones of the opposition leader, around 30 journalists, businessmen and human rights activists, among others, were reportedly targeted. Sushant Singh, a journalist targeted by the Pegasus software, talks about a “Watergate moment” in India. The Minister of the Interior denounced on Twitter “conspiracies”. Narendra Modi's government is faced, in addition to these revelations, with important movements of peasants, opposed to agricultural reform, and to criticism against its management of the Covid pandemic in India.
In a statement about Pegasus, Mexican President Andrès Manuel Lòpez Obrador finally felt that Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, should be released.
“He is in prison unfairly (…) for having made known similar information.
"
As #Pegasus revelations reverberate around the world the President of Mexico @lopezobrador_ calls for WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange, who first exposed widespread global surveillance operations to be freed #Pegasus #NSOGroup pic.twitter.com/TdNENp52C8
- WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) July 21, 2021
Relatives of the current Mexican president have reportedly been targeted by the Pegasus software.
The Public Prosecutor General of the Republic has indicated the opening of an investigation which targets the former Attorney General of the Republic.
