17 journalists from seven countries, targets of the spyware Pegasus, filed a complaint Friday August 6 alongside Reporters Without Borders against the Israeli company NSO Group, at the origin of this technology, announced the NGO which also seized the Nations united.
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These journalists, potential or proven victims of the surveillance software, "
formally joined the complaint filed by Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
" with two Franco-Moroccan journalists, Maati Monjib and Omar Brouksy, to the Paris prosecutor's office on July 20. , specifies the association.
Originally from Azerbaijan, Mexico, India, Spain, Hungary, Morocco and Togo, they “
know or have serious reasons to fear having been spied on by their government
”.
"
Several have been victims for many years of the vindictiveness of their government, such as Hicham Mansouri in Morocco or Swati Chaturvedi in India
", explains RSF.
"
Some have even been spied on by a foreign state, such as Spaniard Ignacio Cembrero, most likely being watched by Morocco,
" she adds.
180 journalists targeted by the software
An investigation published from July 18 by a consortium of 17 international media revealed that the Pegasus software, designed by the Israeli company NSO Group, could have spied on the numbers of at least 180 journalists, 600 politicians and politicians. , 85 human rights activists or 65 business leaders from different countries.
This journalistic work is based on a list of 50,000 phone numbers selected by NSO clients since 2016, obtained by the organization Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International.
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The NGO for the defense of journalists also indicates that it has "
formally referred the cases of these journalists
to
the United Nations
" in order "
to obtain explanations from states suspected of having used Pegasus to spy on these journalists
". RSF "
also calls for demanding strict international regulation of the export, sale and use of surveillance software such as Pegasus, and an international moratorium on the sale of such software
".
In total, 19 journalists lodged a complaint with RSF in France and "
mandated the organization to seize the United Nations mechanisms with them
," she said. These complaints are in addition to those filed in France by Mediapart, the Canard enchaîné and its former collaborator Dominique Simonnot (now Controller General of Prisons), the National Union of Journalists (SNJ) and the NGO Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) .
